plenty

[plen-tee] /ˈplɛn ti/
noun, plural plenties.
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; Middle English plente < Old French; replacing Middle English plenteth < Old French plented, plentet < Latin plēnitāt- (stem of plēnitās) fullness. See plenum, -ity
Related forms
overplenty, noun
Can be confused
abundance, plenty, profusion (see synonym study at the current entry)
Synonyms
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
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.
Examples from the web for plenty
  • plenty is a new bakery, but it's a throwback to a time when places with homey cakes and pastries tempted many neighborhoods.
  • It also means turning away plenty of qualified applicants.
  • But that would still leave plenty that could be useful for farming.
  • Campgrounds fill on summer weekends, but day-trippers still have plenty of park.
  • The world can produce plenty of food to sustain the current population.
  • There is always plenty of work to do at a fossil dig, but every now and then there's a lull in the activity.
  • The military's taken plenty of big steps towards fortifying battlefields with robot armies.
  • If you're an expectant parent who wants to buck the trends, plenty of college towns remain unused as personal names.
  • There is plenty of water to go around and human beings are not using all that much.
  • Long journeys require human explorers to carry plenty of water.
British Dictionary definitions for plenty

plenty

/ˈplɛntɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
(often foll by of) a great number, amount, or quantity; lots: plenty of time, there are plenty of cars on display here
2.
generous or ample supplies of wealth, produce, or resources: the age of plenty
3.
in plenty, existing in abundance: food in plenty
determiner
4.
  1. very many; ample: plenty of people believe in ghosts
  2. (as pronoun): there's plenty more, that's plenty, thanks
adverb
5.
(not standard, mainly US) (intensifier): he was plenty mad
6.
(informal) more than adequately; abundantly: the water's plenty hot enough
Word Origin
C13: from Old French plenté, from Late Latin plēnitās fullness, from Latin plēnus full

Plenty

/ˈplɛntɪ/
noun
1.
Bay of Plenty, a large bay of the Pacific on the NE coast of the North Island, New Zealand
Word Origin and History for plenty
n.

mid-13c., "as much as one could desire," from Old French plentee, earlier plentet "abundance, profusion" (12c., Modern French dialectal plenté), from Latin plenitatem (nominative plenitas) "fullness," from plenus "complete, full" (see plenary). Meaning "condition of general abundance" is from late 14c. The colloquial adverb meaning "very much" is first attested 1842. Middle English had parallel formation plenteth, from the older Old French form of the word.

Slang definitions & phrases for plenty

plenty

adverb

Very; very much; extraordinarily: I was plenty cautious (1842+)


Idioms and Phrases with plenty

plenty

see under not the only fish in the sea