plentiful

[ plen-ti-fuhl ]

adjective

1. existing in great plenty:

   Coal was plentiful, and therefore cheap, in that region.

   Antonyms: scanty, sparse

2. yielding abundantly:

   a plentiful source of inspiration.

   Synonyms: luxuriant, productive, bounteous, fruitful

   Antonyms: sterile, fruitless, barren

plentiful

/ ˈplɛntɪfʊl /

adjective

1. ample; abundant
2. having or yielding an abundance

   a plentiful year

Derived Forms

• ˈplentifully, adverb
• ˈplentifulness, noun

Other Words From

• plenti·ful·ly adverb
• plenti·ful·ness noun
• over·plenti·ful adjective
• over·plenti·ful·ly adverb
• over·plenti·ful·ness noun
• quasi-plenti·ful adjective
• quasi-plenti·ful·ly adverb
• un·plenti·ful adjective
• un·plenti·ful·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of plentiful¹

A late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; plenty, -ful

Synonym Study

Plentiful, ample, abundant, bountiful describe a more than adequate supply of something. Plentiful suggests an over-adequate quantity: a plentiful supply. Ample suggests a more than adequate quality as well: to give ample praise. Abundant implies a greater degree of plenty, and bountiful a still more ample quality as well: an abundant, even a bountiful, harvest.

Example Sentences

The newly discovered fossil of a marine worm that lived more than 550 million years ago offers the earliest documented appearance of a group of animals that today are the most plentiful on Earth, a team reports.

From Science Magazine

In Tampa Bay, the manatee population wasn't deemed plentiful until the 1950s.

From Science Daily

Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, the print media began writing of routine sightings in Miami and St. Augustine, and by the mid-1950s "there were reports that manatees were 'becoming more plentiful' in Tampa Bay and a few were said to have become permanent residents' of Crystal River," the paper says.

From Science Daily

The fossils represent the earliest documented appearance of a group of animals that today are the most plentiful on Earth, the researchers report this week in Current Biology.

From Science Magazine

Working alongside his mom and Florida State University paleoecologist Scott Evans, Hughes uncovered more than 80 of these nematodes at the South Australia site, where the soft-bodied Ediacarans were once plentiful.

From Science Magazine

Related Words

• ample
• bountiful
• fertile
• generous
• productive
• prolific
• sufficient
• unlimited