plethora

American  

[pleth-er-uh] / ˈplɛθ ər ə /

noun

1. overabundance; excess.

   His crisis brought him a plethora of advice and an almost complete lack of assistance.

2. a large quantity or wide array; a lot.

   The co-op program offers a plethora of advantages for students.

   Visitors are drawn to the main beach, where a plethora of watersports can be enjoyed.

3. Pathology Archaic. a morbid condition due to excess of red corpuscles in the blood or increase in the quantity of blood.

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plethora British  

/ ˈplɛθərə, plɛˈθɒrɪk /

noun

1. superfluity or excess; overabundance

2. obsolete pathol a condition caused by dilation of superficial blood vessels, characterized esp by a reddish face

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Other Word Forms

• plethoric adjective
• plethorically adverb

Etymology

Origin of plethora

First recorded in 1535–45; from New Latin, from Greek plēthṓra “fullness,” from plḗthein “to fill, be full”; complete ( def. ), full ¹

Example Sentences

Amid the plethora of army posters across the city, there are some smaller signs that not everybody shares the patriotic pro-war fervour.

From Barron's

That could go beyond a one-page invoice to include a plethora of rows of data to support those payments.

From The Wall Street Journal

Characters from Pokemon games have been spun off into films, animated series and a plethora of merchandise.

From Barron's

But would a plethora of small data centres present a headache for national security?

From BBC

Throughout her seven years at the station, Tiffany has debuted a host of new tracks and interviewed a plethora of music stars.

From BBC

Related Words

• deluge
• excess
• glut
• overabundance
• plenty
• profusion
• surfeit