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• plenty
  plenty

  noun

  a full or abundant supply or amount.
• Plenty
  Plenty

  noun

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

plenty

American  

[plen-tee] / ˈplɛn ti /

noun

• plenties
  plural

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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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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 British  

/ ˈplɛntɪ /

noun

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

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plenty Idioms  

1. see under not the only fish in the sea.

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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.

Synonym Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overplenty
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plenties
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of plenty

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

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Explanation

If you've eaten your fill at a big meal, you know by your full stomach that you have had plenty. In fact, if you had more than plenty, you might even get the feeling you've had too much! The word plenty usually refers to more than just enough, and this comes, via Middle French plenté, from the Latin word plēnitās, "fullness," from plenus, "full, complete." The meaning is apparent in the following quote by English novelist George Eliot: "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music." May you have plenty of what you need, and some of what you want as well.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plenty Plenty plenties

"There's plenty of support out there for babies, but it's nice to have something that is more about the mums."

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

In a 2020 interview with Nashville Lifestyles, Gifford explained that she had visited the city plenty of times throughout her career, recording albums, filming TV shows, and attending the CMA festival.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Antarctica is surrounded by a vast ocean, giving its sea ice plenty of room to spread outward during the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Plenty of bees, plenty of bonnets — though, thankfully for the women, no overlap between the two.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

His regular gig at a café in Florentin and some bartending had been enough to get him a cramped studio apartment and an American fiancée who made him feel alive, plenty enough for him.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Plenty else will crowd the agenda when the two leaders meet next Thursday—Taiwan, Iran and trade—along with the pomp of a formal state dinner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Plenty of bad ones wrap up neatly too.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

Plenty of 'if onlys' mark his time in the job.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Plenty of consumers don’t want more invasive tools that have a proven track record of surveillance.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

Plenty of law enforcement personnel would’ve done exactly that and not been unjustified in so doing.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

In which case, the contest of plenties will be on again.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 6, 2010

Peace, Shakespeare's "dear nurse of arts, plenties and joyful births," succors national life at last.

From Time Magazine Archive

Among the various plenties that abound in the U. S., the most indigenous and widespread is the plenty of Nothing that almost any U. S. citizen will admit he's got.

From Time Magazine Archive

Complement of human kind, Holding us at vantage still, Our sumptuous indigence, O barren mound, thy plenties fill!

From Poems Household Edition by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Complement of human kind, having us at vantage still, our sumptuous indigence, oh, barren mound, thy plenties fill!

From Confessions and Criticisms by Julian Hawthorne

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Related Words

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