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Multiplex is either a word derived from multi- + plex (fold) or a synthetic portmanteau combining the words multiple and complex and can be another word for many or (literally) manifold.

It has several meanings:

1. Multiplex (cinema), a contraction multiple cineplex, is a movie theater with more than one screen.
2. Multiplex (wood) is a kind of wood substitute made from wood splinters glued into boards, also see Triplex
3. In electronics a device that takes multiple inputs and combines them using time division is called a multiplexer. One concrete example of a multiplexer is the 74ALS157 'Quad 2- to 1-line data selector/multiplexer'. The verb for what this device does is 'to multiplex'. A device that does the reverse function of a multiplexer is called a demultiplexer.
4. A multiplex (television) is a number of digital television or radio channels multiplexed onto a single broadcast channel.
5. In highway terminology, it indicates that a single physical road is designated by two or more different highway numbers. If two highways are signed in opposite directions (e.g. Route 128 South and Interstate 93 North near Boston, Massachusetts formerly ran concurrently), that is a "wrong-way multiplex". If one of the highways could have ended at the other, that is a "stupid multiplex".
6. Multiplex (comics) was a DC Comics character.

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