plentiful
Americanadjective
-
ample; abundant
-
having or yielding an abundance
a plentiful year
Synonym Usage
Plentiful, ample, abundant, bountiful describe a more than adequate supply of something. Plentiful suggests an over-adequate quantity: a plentiful supply. Ample suggests a more than adequate quality as well: to give ample praise. Abundant implies a greater degree of plenty, and bountiful a still more ample quality as well: an abundant, even a bountiful, harvest.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of plentiful
A late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at plenty, -ful
Explanation
If something is plentiful, there is a lot of it. Also, plentiful things yield large amounts of something, like an abundant farm. Apples are plentiful in a plentiful year on an apple farm. Plentiful is an adjective to describe “many” or “a lot.” It’s plenty for “very much” and -ful for “full of” so plentiful is full of very much! It’s a word for “large amounts.” If you have plenty of potato chips, you have a plentiful supply of chips. Also, something that has or produces great amounts can be called plentiful. A tree that spawns many apples is plentiful.
Vocabulary lists containing plentiful
Much Ado: Synonyms for "Many"
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Obama's State of the Union Address, 2014
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Z for Zachariah
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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.
And a growing cohort of mostly juvenile humpbacks are thriving off New York's coast, where food is now plentiful.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Keeping muscle strong and plentiful therefore helps the body manage blood sugar and protects against type 2 diabetes, itself a major driver of heart disease and early death.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
In a July consumer survey from the Conference Board, a research group, 24.6% said jobs seem plentiful, while 21.5% said they are hard to get—the least favorable split since 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Cooperatives, a form of member-owned business, are plentiful in North Dakota too.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Poor woman, how she had struggled and worked for that good, plentiful food, the clean shirts her boys had worn, the scrubbed floors, polished brass!
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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.
