plethora
Americannoun
-
overabundance; excess.
His crisis brought him a plethora of advice and an almost complete lack of assistance.
-
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.
-
Pathology Archaic. a morbid condition due to excess of red corpuscles in the blood or increase in the quantity of blood.
noun
-
superfluity or excess; overabundance
-
obsolete pathol a condition caused by dilation of superficial blood vessels, characterized esp by a reddish face
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of plethora
First recorded in 1535–45; from New Latin, from Greek plēthṓra “fullness,” from plḗthein “to fill, be full”; see also complete ( def. ), full 1
Explanation
Plethora means an abundance or excess of something. If you have 15 different people who want to take you on a date, you have a plethora of romantic possibilities. Plethora comes from the Greek for "fullness." Although it was originally used only in old-fashioned medicine to describe the condition of having too much blood, we use it to talk about any excessive supply. If you run a theater and all the seats are taken, that's a full house. But if the seats are full and people are standing in the aisles, you have a plethora of patrons. The stress is on the first syllable: PLETH-uh-ruh.
Vocabulary lists containing plethora
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week in Words: October 21- 27, 2018
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
This Week in Words: January 27 - February 2, 2018
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There’s a plethora of modern and contemporary examples on view that reflect the far-flung inspirations and styles that artists have embraced when creating tarot cards.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
Still, it only brushes the surface of an exhibition that seamlessly draws upon a plethora of works crafted across U.S. history.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
While the broad move toward cord cutting and a la carte programming has put significant pressure on pay-TV providers, it has also created a plethora of unforeseen problems for streaming services.
From MarketWatch • May 28, 2026
They have a plethora of choices, from apps like Taobao and JD.com to hours-long sales livestreams on the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, China's version of TikTok.
From Barron's • May 27, 2026
Colin and Hassan followed her to a six-foot-tall obelisk—a kind of miniature Washington Monument—before which lay a plethora of not-new pink silk roses.
From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
