different between copious vs plethoric

English

Etymology

From Middle English copious, from Latin copiosus, copia (“abundance”), from co- + ops (“wealth”) + -osus (“full of”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ko?pi.?s/
• Rhymes: -??pi?s

Adjective

copious (comparative more copious, superlative most copious)

1. Vast in quantity or number, profuse, abundant; taking place on a large scale.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Section 3. § 18.

     These loose hints I have thrown together, in order to excite the curiosity of philosophers, and beget a suspicion at least, if not a full persuasion, that this subject is very copious,

2. Having an abundant supply.
3. Full of thought, information, or matter; exuberant in words, expression, or style.

Derived terms

• copiously
• copiousness

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Late Latin plethoricus, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek ?????????? (pl?th?rikós), from ??????? (pl?th?ra, “plethora”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pl?????k/, /pl??????k/

Adjective

plethoric (comparative more plethoric, superlative most plethoric)

1. (medicine) Suffering from plethora; ruddy in complexion, congested or swollen with blood. [from 14th c.]
   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     a horse-leech, whose deep maw
     The plethoric King Swellfoot could not fill,
     And who, till full, will cling for ever.

   • 1941, W Somerset Maugham, Up at the Villa, Vintage 2004, p. 81:

     Harold Atkinson, her host, was a fine handsome grey-haired man, plethoric and somewhat corpulent, with an eye for a pretty woman […].

2. Excessive, overabundant, rife; loosely, abundant, varied. [from 17th c.]
   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 161:

     the judges [...] were arranging their robes and coughing into their fists, the ebb and flow of their plethoric wigs like a flock of sheep on the run.

Related terms

• plethora

Translations