plateful

American  

[pleyt-fool] / ˈpleɪt fʊl /

noun

platefuls plural

1. the amount that a plate will hold.

2. a large portion or quantity.

   a plateful of contracts to negotiate.

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Spelling

See -ful.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• platefuls
  plural

Etymology

Origin of plateful

First recorded in 1760–70; plate ¹ + -ful

Example Sentences

Flag isn’t like the Baxters’ other animals: He can’t pull a plow, track a bear, provide milk, or become a plateful of cracklings.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

Alexandra herself worked on “getting fuller on less,” trying to limit each meal to a single plateful.

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2023

Or try warming up a frozen dinner and turning it out onto a plateful of leafy greens.

From Washington Post • Jul. 16, 2021

“I’ve never told my whole story before,” she said, sitting across from Miles with a plateful of sausage and fried eggs, “only bits of it.”

From The New Yorker • Jun. 15, 2018

Inés and her mother served us plateful after plateful of enchiladas de mole.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall