bucketful

American  

[buhk-it-fool] / ˈbʌk ɪtˌfʊl /

noun

• bucketfuls
  plural

1. the amount that a bucket can hold.

   a bucketful of water.

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Spelling

See -ful.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bucketfuls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bucketful

First recorded in 1555–65; bucket + -ful

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bucketful bucketfuls

I have friends who choke down Greek yogurt by the bucketful, who eat handfuls of grilled chicken at a time, who dead lift their own body weight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

Pour a bucketful of water on the table’s treetop canopy and watch the rainforest in action.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2022

The family unearthed bivalves by the bucketful, reaching the most plentiful beaches with their motorized metal dinghy.

From Scientific American ● Jan. 24, 2022

At exactly 11:17, once the crew had relocated a butterfly bush and three baby garter snakes curled up among its roots, the first bucketful of dirt was removed.

From Washington Post ● May 28, 2021

The screen door slammed, followed by a huge bucketful of silence.

From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies

She remembered trailing behind her grandmother cutting roses in her garden, lugging bucketfuls of flowers and inhaling the sweetness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026

“My hope is you will resist those bucketfuls of money,” Blumenthal told the Tour witnesses.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2023

For Kummari, the few bucketfuls of water are a blessing.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2016

The winter meetings craziness kicked off even before the winter meetings, writes Jayson Stark on ESPN.com, when the Nationals threw ridiculous bucketfuls of money at Jayson Werth.

From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2010

Waves broke over the bows, where bucketfuls of water streamed through the flimsy decking.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong