What Does Four Fold Mean?

The word four-fold is an adjective. It is used to describe a state or condition which is four times the previous condition. Four fold could also be written as four-fold or fourfold. The word indicates four times as great as the original. For example: the doctor advised a four-fold increase in the medication. In this example, the doctor increased the medication four times the medication which he prescribed earlier. Four-fold is also used to describe something which has four units or components. For example: a quadruple rhythm has four beats per measure. In this example, quadruple represents a constitution or a group and not a multiplication factor. Thus, quadruple indicates something that which has four constituents.

Four-fold could also be used as an adverb. For example: the readership of the novel has increased four-fold over the last two months. Quadrable, quadrumanous, quadruple, quadrigeminal are some of the words that could be used for four-fold.