multiverse

See also: Multiverse

English

Blend of multiple +‎ -verse, coined by American philosopher William James[1].

multiverse (plural multiverses)

(philosophy) The world, considered as lacking in purpose, design, or predictability.
- 1895 October, James, William, “Is Life Worth Living?”, in International Journal of Ethics‎, page 10:
  Visible nature is all plasticity and indifference, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not a universe.
- 1953, Bellow, Saul, chapter 6, in The Adventures of Augie March, Viking Press:
  I've never gone through a place like Racine without thinking which house with the rubber-tire swing for kids and piano-practicing inside was like Stiva Lausch's, who had two daughters brought up with every refinement, including piano lessons, and how such little-speaking Odessa-bred sons had gotten on a track like this through the multiverse.
(physics, cosmology) The hypothetical group of all the possible universes in existence.
Our universe is a very small part of the multiverse.

In the DC multiverse, our reality is called "Earth-33". But in the Marvel multiverse, it's "Earth-1218".

hypothetical group of all possible universes

William James (1896) Is Life Worth Living?, page 26: “Truly all we know of good and beauty proceeds from nature, but none the less so all we know of evil. Visible nature is all plasticity and indifference, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not a universe.”