A bstract A search for anomalous production of events with three or more isolated leptons in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = 7\,TeV $ is presented. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 fb −1 , were collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC during the 2011 run. The search is applicable to any model of new physics that enhances multiple lepton production. The observed multilepton events are categorized into exclusive search channels based on the identity and kinematics of the objects in the events. An estimate of the standard-model background rates from data is emphasized, but simulation is also used to estimate some of the background rates. The search results are interpreted in the context of supersymmetry, including both R -parity-conserving and R -parity-violating models. We derive exclusion limits as a function of squark, gluino, and chargino masses.