Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Definition of plenty - 3 dictionary results

plen⋅ty

[plen-tee] noun, plural -ties, adjective, adverb
–noun
1. a full or abundant supply or amount: There is plenty of time.
2. the state or quality of being plentiful; abundance: resources in plenty.
3. 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
4. existing in ample quantity or number; plentiful; abundant: Food is never too plenty in the area.
5. more than sufficient; ample: That helping is plenty for me.
–adverb
6. Informal. fully; quite: plenty good enough.

Origin:
1175–1225; ME plente < OF; r. ME plenteth < OF plented, plentet < L plēnitāt- (s. of plēnitās) fullness. See plenum, -ity


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.


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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To plenty
plen·ty   (plěn'tē)   
n.  
  1. A full or completely adequate amount or supply: plenty of time.

  2. A large quantity or amount; an abundance: "Awards and honors came to her in plenty" (Joyce Carol Oates).

  3. A condition of general abundance or prosperity: "fruitful regions gladdened by plenty and lulled by peace!" (Samuel Johnson).

adj.  Plentiful; abundant: "Ships were then not so plenty in those waters as now" (Herman Melville).
adv.   Informal
Sufficiently; very: It's plenty hot.

[Middle English, from Old French plente, from Latin plēnitās, from plēnus, full; see pelə-1 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Idioms & Phrases

plenty

see under not the only fish in the sea.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see plenty on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: