Definition of "multivalent" [mul•tiv•a•lent]

• Chemistry Polyvalent. (adjective)
• Genetics Of or relating to the association of three or more homologous chromosomes during the first division of meiosis. (adjective)
• Immunology Having several sites of attachment for an antibody or antigen. (adjective)
• Having various meanings or values: subtle, multivalent allegory. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For that matter, how "multivalent" is the fiction of, say, Virginia Woolf, one of the great pyschological realists?"
• "As for "multivalence": How multivalent is Hemingway's fiction?"
• "I remembered all these numbers, but all these can possibly cause cervical cancer, sort of the Holy Grail of this, to try and prevent as many cervical cancers as possible, is to produce something called a multivalent vaccine."