Pluridimensional

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Existing or operating in multiple dimensions or aspects simultaneously, encompassing more than one level of complexity or representation at the same time
2. Extending across or involving several dimensions or facets, often implying complexity beyond usual three-dimensional space
3. Relating to or characterized by the presence of many different dimensions or perspectives at once

Etymology: Dimension itself comes from Latin "dimensio", a measuring out, built from "dis-" (apart) and "metiri" (to measure), so the word's first job was literal surveying. Its later sense of a direction in space, and then of any measurable aspect of a thing, grew out of that act of measuring apart. "Pluridimensional" adds the prefix "pluri-", from Latin "plus" and "plures" (more), which is a Latin combining form used to mean "several" or "many." The result, "pluri-" plus "dimensional," literally means "having many measures," a coinage that stacks a Latin prefix onto an English adjective rather than a word that existed in ancient Latin. Because "dimensional" itself was formed from "dimension" with the suffix "-al," the whole word is a layered modern formation. Its meaning has widened from measured extent to facets of a problem or character, which is why the word can describe a novel's characters or a mathematical space alike.