Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb proliferate

2 senses of proliferate

Sense 1
proliferate -- (grow rapidly; "Pizza parlors proliferate in this area")
       => grow -- (become larger, greater, or bigger; expand or gain; "The problem grew too large for me"; "Her business grew fast")

Sense 2
proliferate -- (cause to grow or increase rapidly; "We must not proliferate nuclear arms")
       => multiply, manifold -- (combine or increase by multiplication; "He managed to multiply his profits")