galore
Americanadverb
determiner
Etymology
Origin of galore
1660–70; < Irish go leor enough, plenty ( Scots Gaelic gu leòr, leòir ), equivalent to go, particle forming predicative adjectives and adverbs + leór enough ( Old Irish lour )
Explanation
At a party with more cupcakes than anyone could imagine, you’ll hear guests say, “There are cupcakes galore!” Galore means there’s so much that it’s unbelievable. The Irish phrase go lear literally translates as “to sufficiency.” If there are sufficient enough bananas to build a house with them, you’d say that there are bananas galore. The word is an example of a postpositive adjective, which means it comes after the word it describes. So when you go to a circus and 700 clowns surround you, don’t say “There are galore clowns,” because the correct way to express your terror is this: “There are clowns galore. Help!”
Vocabulary lists containing galore
30 GRE Words Beginning with "G" and "H"
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Vocabulary from the Songs of "The Little Mermaid"
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Tommy Ramone (1949-2014) Tribute List
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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.
Dietrich was Hollywood’s greatest seductress, with conquests galore, male and female, but she was prouder of helping the war effort during World War II as a performer and war-bonds promoter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The gag-filled comedy overflows with wackiness, as is customary for “Looney Tunes,” but also, and perhaps less expectedly, poignancy galore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
An underdog taking the lead, a comeback, another twist and chances galore for both sides.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
There are opinion pieces galore claiming Fennell “got it all wrong,” video essays asserting that the film is “the worst adaptation of all time” and that Fennell should “apologize to Emily Brontë.”
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026
Mam says there’s one good thing about fleas, they’re clean, but flies are filthy, you never know where they came from and they carry diseases galore.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
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.
