plethora
Americannoun
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overabundance; excess.
His crisis brought him a plethora of advice and an almost complete lack of assistance.
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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.
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Pathology Archaic. a morbid condition due to excess of red corpuscles in the blood or increase in the quantity of blood.
noun
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superfluity or excess; overabundance
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obsolete pathol a condition caused by dilation of superficial blood vessels, characterized esp by a reddish face
Other Word Forms
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
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This Week in Words: October 21- 27, 2018
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This Week in Words: January 27 - February 2, 2018
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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.
Even first-past-the-post cannot be relied upon to avoid the prospect of minority or coalition government if electoral support is shared across a plethora of parties.
From BBC • May 9, 2026
When it’s all done, I am treated to a plethora of snacks and a complimentary sticker.
From Slate • May 9, 2026
Even the once derided, now celebrated Brutalist Barbican included a plethora of glass.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
Investors will get a plethora of earnings this week, as about one-third of S&P 500 companies will report results, including five of the Magnificent Seven.
From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026
A plethora of tiny voices yelled, “Outhouse? What is that?”
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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.
