bountiful
1 Americanadjective
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liberal in bestowing gifts, favors, or bounties; munificent; generous.
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abundant; ample.
a bountiful supply.
noun
adjective
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plentiful; ample (esp in the phrase a bountiful supply )
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giving freely; generous
Usage
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.
Related Words
Other Word Forms
- bountifully adverb
- bountifulness noun
- unbountiful adjective
- unbountifully adverb
- unbountifulness noun
Etymology
Origin of bountiful
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing bountiful
Power Suffix: -ful
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
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
Enjoy your dream home and allow your Roth to experience bountiful growth.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 5, 2026
But the best album category will be hotly contested, after a bountiful year for British music.
From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026
Farmers would face competition from bountiful South American nature.
From Barron's • Dec. 30, 2025
She paid no attention that the food was not as bountiful as it had once been.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
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.
