plentiful

[plen-ti-fuhl]

adjective

1. existing in great plenty.

   Coal was plentiful, and therefore cheap, in that region.

   Antonyms: scanty, sparse

2. yielding abundantly.

   a plentiful source of inspiration.

   Synonyms: luxuriant, productive, bounteous, fruitful
   Antonyms: sterile, fruitless, barren

plentiful

/ ˈplɛntɪfʊl /

adjective

1. ample; abundant

2. having or yielding an abundance

   a plentiful year

Other Word Forms

• plentifully adverb
• plentifulness noun
• overplentiful adjective
• overplentifully adverb
• overplentifulness noun
• quasi-plentiful adjective
• quasi-plentifully adverb
• unplentiful adjective
• unplentifully adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of plentiful¹

A late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; plenty, -ful

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Actual losses aren’t as plentiful this year, with U.S. stocks and bonds both posting gains.

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The album has too much happening to function as ambient or environmental music—though loops are plentiful, there’s a consistent sense of development through these constructions, as elements are born, bloom and fade away.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Acorn tacked a zigzag route through the water, searching for where the fish were plentiful.

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That, of course, measures the number of Americans who think jobs are plentiful versus those that feel jobs are hard to get.

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Gulf Coast refiners, meanwhile, were built to refine Venezuela’s heavy oil because it was “cheap and plentiful — and, of course, yields a lot of diesel and fuels for heavy manufacturing,” he said.

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Related Words

• ample 
• bountiful 
• fertile 
• generous 
• productive 
• prolific 
• sufficient 
• unlimited