plenty

[ plen-tee ]
See synonyms for: plentyplentierplentiest on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural plen·ties.
  1. a full or abundant supply or amount: There is plenty of time.

  2. the state or quality of being plentiful; abundance: resources in plenty.

  1. an abundance, as of goods or luxuries, or a time of such abundance: the plenty of a rich harvest; the plenty that comes with peace.

adjective
  1. existing in ample quantity or number; plentiful; abundant: Food is never too plenty in the area.

  2. more than sufficient; ample: That helping is plenty for me.

adverb
  1. Informal. fully; quite: plenty good enough.

Origin of plenty

1
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English plente, from Old French; replacing Middle English plenteth, from Old French plented, plentet, from Latin plēnitāt- (stem of plēnitās) “fullness.” See plenum, -ity

synonym study For plenty

2. Plenty, abundance, profusion refer to a large quantity or supply. Plenty suggests a supply that is fully adequate to any demands: plenty of money. Abundance implies a great plenty, an ample and generous oversupply: an abundance of rain. Profusion applies to such a lavish and excessive abundance as often suggests extravagance or prodigality: luxuries in great profusion.

usage note For plenty

The construction plenty of is standard in all varieties of speech and writing: plenty of room in the shed. The use of plenty preceding a noun, without an intervening of, first appeared in the late 19th century: plenty room in the shed. It occurs today chiefly in informal speech. As an adverb, a use first recorded in the mid-19th century, plenty is also informal and is found chiefly in speech or written representations of speech.

Other words for plenty

Other words from plenty

  • o·ver·plen·ty, noun

Words that may be confused with plenty

Words Nearby plenty

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use plenty in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for plenty (1 of 2)

plenty

/ (ˈplɛntɪ) /


nounplural -ties
  1. (often foll by of) a great number, amount, or quantity; lots: plenty of time; there are plenty of cars on display here

  2. generous or ample supplies of wealth, produce, or resources: the age of plenty

  1. in plenty existing in abundance: food in plenty

determiner
    • very many; ample: plenty of people believe in ghosts

    • (as pronoun): there's plenty more; that's plenty, thanks

adverb
  1. not standard, mainly US (intensifier): he was plenty mad

  2. informal more than adequately; abundantly: the water's plenty hot enough

Origin of plenty

1
C13: from Old French plenté, from Late Latin plēnitās fullness, from Latin plēnus full

British Dictionary definitions for Plenty (2 of 2)

Plenty

/ (ˈplɛntɪ) /


noun
  1. Bay of Plenty a large bay of the Pacific on the NE coast of the North Island, New Zealand

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with plenty

plenty

see under not the only fish in the sea.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.