countless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of countless
Explanation
Countless means more than you could possibly count. If you have countless reasons why you love living in New York, there are so many reasons that you can't list them all. Countless is a good adjective to use when you want to emphasize how endless, huge, or immeasurable something is. Your could say that smoke detectors save countless lives each year, or that your principal has tried countless times to ban soda at school, only to be outvoted by the student council over and over. The word dates from the 16th century, from the verb count, with its Old French root, conter, "add up."
Vocabulary lists containing countless
Much Ado: Synonyms for "Many"
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 6
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"Dogs at Work"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Hundreds of people on your professional team, as well as countless friends… no one warned you?” posted one follower, Jamie M. Timbre, in a reply to her Instagram mea culpa.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Those goals came after countless opportunities went begging for London City, who ended the game having had 24 shots but only six on target.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
The mass extinction that followed created opportunities for countless other animals to evolve and spread.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026
Trefethen has surprised countless visitors to her Napa Valley vineyard by helping them rediscover their taste for the wine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
We’d watched a bunch of movies and talked nonstop about what seventh grade would be like, and Audrey had given me countless manicures.
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
