plenty

[ plen-tee ]
/ ˈplɛn ti /

noun, plural plen·ties.

a full or abundant supply or amount: There is plenty of time.
the state or quality of being plentiful; abundance: resources in plenty.
an abundance, as of goods or luxuries, or a time of such abundance: the plenty of a rich harvest; the plenty that comes with peace.

adjective

existing in ample quantity or number; plentiful; abundant: Food is never too plenty in the area.
more than sufficient; ample: That helping is plenty for me.

adverb

Informal. fully; quite: plenty good enough.

Origin of plenty

1175–1225; Middle English plente < Old French; replacing Middle English plenteth < Old French plented, plentet < Latin plēnitāt- (stem of plēnitās) fullness. See plenum, -ity

SYNONYMS FOR plenty

2 plenteousness, copiousness, luxuriance, affluence. Plenty, abundance, profusion refer to a large quantity or supply. Plenty suggests a supply that is fully adequate to any demands: plenty of money. Abundance implies a great plenty, an ample and generous oversupply: an abundance of rain. Profusion applies to such a lavish and excessive abundance as often suggests extravagance or prodigality: luxuries in great profusion.

usage note for plenty

The construction plenty of is standard in all varieties of speech and writing: plenty of room in the shed. The use of plenty preceding a noun, without an intervening of, first appeared in the late 19th century: plenty room in the shed. It occurs today chiefly in informal speech. As an adverb, a use first recorded in the mid-19th century, plenty is also informal and is found chiefly in speech or written representations of speech.

OTHER WORDS FROM plenty

o·ver·plen·ty, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH plenty

abundance plenty profusion (see synonym study at the current entry)

Example sentences from the Web for plenty

British Dictionary definitions for plenty (1 of 2)

plenty
/ (ˈplɛntɪ) /

noun plural -ties

(often foll by of) a great number, amount, or quantity; lots plenty of time; there are plenty of cars on display here
generous or ample supplies of wealth, produce, or resources the age of plenty
in plenty existing in abundance food in plenty

determiner

  1. very many; ampleplenty of people believe in ghosts
  2. (as pronoun)there's plenty more; that's plenty, thanks

adverb

not standard, mainly US (intensifier) he was plenty mad
informal more than adequately; abundantly the water's plenty hot enough

Word Origin for plenty

C13: from Old French plenté, from Late Latin plēnitās fullness, from Latin plēnus full

British Dictionary definitions for plenty (2 of 2)

Plenty
/ (ˈplɛntɪ) /

noun

Bay of Plenty a large bay of the Pacific on the NE coast of the North Island, New Zealand

Idioms and Phrases with plenty

plenty

see under not the only fish in the sea.