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What is correct: "multiple restrike" or "multiple restrikes"? In general: should a noun after "multiple" be in singular or plural? (One "restrike" or more "restrikes" after each other can appear in circuit-breakers when breaking small capacitive currents.)

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    Has to be plural - 'multiple restrikes'.
    – WS2
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 7:42
  • Hi WS2, you may not be aware that a "multiple restrike" system is an engineering thing. Google eg. "multiple restrike car ignition" or "multiple restrike capacitor" etc.
    – Fattie
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 11:34
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    That being said, Zdenek may indeed be referring to the "things" restrikes, and many of them! :)
    – Fattie
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 11:36

2 Answers 2

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Multiple should be followed by a plural and not a singular noun if you are referring to several copies of an object. For example:

Multiple buildings were damaged in the explosion.

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    If Zdenek is referring to the "things" restrikes, and he is saying to his colleague for example "Look at that! So many restrikes! Multiple restrikes!" then yes it is "s". If Zdenek is (as one would expect) referring to the "things" say capacitors, and he is using the commonplace compound adjective "multiple-restrike" (which is just like "multiple-choice" or "multi-engine") then there is no "s"; it would just be "Holy crap, we need to buy more multiple-restrike capacitors! Do they have them on amazon.com??"
    – Fattie
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 11:44
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You're forming a two-word adjective which describes something. There's no "s".

Multiple choice question.

Multiple choice questions.

Multiple choice exam.

Multiple product packaging.

Multiple seat aircraft.

Multiple restrike starter motor.

Multiple restrike fuses.

(Hyphen korner: Note that in each case, you can use a hyphen if you want (just as with any compound). So, for example multiple-choice exam. Makes no difference.)

Note - you could make up obscure, tortured, situations where the "choice" part IS A NOUN and the "multiple" is just an adjective. Something like this .. "in life she faced multiple choices at the same time" or "the lightning struck once, then restruck, then restruck again, so, we had multiple restrikes after the original strike." But those are just silly, of course.

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    What about Multiple strike on its own? Couldn't you put the noun in plural then —**multiple strikes**. Multiple airlines, multiple bee stings, multiple city flights, multiple dimensions etc. Irrelevant edit. Focus on the question.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 11:37
  • There is, exceptionally, 'multiple myeloma' where 'multiple' is an adjective (loosely, multi-faceted) rather than a quantifier.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 25, 2020 at 14:26
  • OP's question as asked was unclear. But if it's looking for an adjective, then Fattie is correct. multiple-restrike breaker. If a noun, plural. Multiple restrikes occurred. But if referring to a known or standard "situation", then the singular noun is possible: "Did multiple restrike occur? Yes, it did."
    – TimR
    Commented Sep 14, 2023 at 12:05

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