plenty

[plen-tee]

noun

plural

plenties 

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.

   Synonyms: affluence, luxuriance, copiousness, plenteousness

3. 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.

plenty

¹

/ ˈplɛntɪ /

noun

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

3. existing in abundance

   food in plenty

determiner

1. 1. very many; ample

      plenty of people believe in ghosts

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there's plenty more

      that's plenty, thanks

adverb

1. not_standard,  (intensifier)

   he was plenty mad

2. informal,  more than adequately; abundantly

   the water's plenty hot enough

Plenty

²

/ ˈplɛntɪ /

noun

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

Usage

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 Word Forms

• overplenty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of plenty¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of plenty¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

see under not the only fish in the sea.

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

These are communities built on the idea of plenty, now confronting what scarcity really looks like.

Read more on Salon

There are plenty of reasons to believe the gains stand on a firm foundation.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There are plenty of believers in AI's potential to transform society.

Read more on BBC

Over the years, Hulse has encountered plenty of boundary-pushing contestants who were determined to use the crown to advance progressive causes, she noted.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A road game against an opponent with plenty of its own urgency should tell the Bruins whether they’re on the road to redemption or merely picking up speed on a route to nowhere.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• enough 
• good deal www.thesaurus.com
• luxury 
• plethora 
• quantity 
• torrent 
• wealth