liberal in bestowing gifts, favors, or bounties; munificent; generous.
abundant; ample.
a bountiful supply.
plentiful; ample (esp in the phrase a bountiful supply )
giving freely; generous
What does bountiful mean? Bountiful describes something abundant or plentiful. For example, if you have so many pens that you think you’ll never run out of them, you could say you have a bountiful supply of pens. Bountiful also means generous, especially in giving gifts or favors. For example, you could say that a new job is bountiful because it pays a lot of money or has a lot of benefits, like its own coffee bar with a barista, hammocks, and a skateboard park. Example: The city had a bountiful supply of interesting museums to visit.
Bountiful means abundant or given generously. We celebrate the idea of a bountiful harvest with a Thanksgiving cornucopia overflowing with its bounty of pumpkins, apples, squashes, and cranberries. Bountiful can also mean generously given, with the idea that the original bounty of a harvest came from the gods you prayed to for rain and sun. When you received their gifts, you thanked them for their generosity. Now, bountiful giving is something you might experience with your parents or grandparents, happy just to see you smile on your birthday.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Xi accompanied Trump on a tour of Beijing’s 15th-century Temple of Heaven, where China’s Ming and Qing emperors held rites to seek bountiful harvests and other blessings.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
The historic site is where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would offer sacrifices and pray for bountiful harvests.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
Even when crops are bountiful in the U.S., consumers are not immune to global economic forces.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2026
Coffee Confessionals is admittedly small but cozy, with hardwood floors, bountiful string lights and just a few cafe tables inside.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026
Gramps said, “Okay then, bountiful blue lake, here we come.”
From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
Definitions 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.
