different between lavish vs myriad

English

Alternative forms

• lavis, laves, lavas (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English *lavish, laves, *lavaus, lavage (“extravagant, wasteful”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French lavasse (“torrent of rain”), or derived from Middle English laven (“to pour out”). See lave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?læv??/
• Rhymes: -æv??

Adjective

lavish (comparative lavisher or more lavish, superlative lavishest or most lavish)

1. Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal.
   • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.

2. Superabundant; excessive
   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure Act 2 Scene 2

     Let her haue needfull, but not lauish meanes

Synonyms

• (expending profusely): profuse, prodigal, wasteful, extravagant, exuberant, immoderate, opulent
• See also Thesaurus:prodigal

Related terms

• lavy

Translations

Verb

lavish (third-person singular simple present lavishes, present participle lavishing, simple past and past participle lavished)

1. (transitive) To give out extremely generously; to squander.

2. (transitive) To give out to (somebody) extremely generously.

Translations

Related terms

• lavisher
• lavishly
• lavishness

Anagrams

• Vishal

English

Etymology

From French myriade, from Late Latin myriadis (genitive of myrias), from Ancient Greek ???????? (muriádos), genitive of ?????? (muriás, “number of 10,000”), from ?????? (muríos, “numberless, countless, infinite”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?m??i.æd/, /?m??i.?d/

Noun

myriad (plural myriads)

1. (historical) Ten thousand; 10,000 [from 16th c.]
2. A countless number or multitude (of specified things) [from 16th c.]
   • 1914, Henry Graham Dakyns, Xenophon, Cyropaedia, Book I:

     How far he surpassed them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, although the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever succeeded in dominating a foreign nation ...

Related terms

• tens of thousands

Usage notes

Used as an adjective (see below), 'myriad' requires neither an article before it nor a preposition after. Because of this, some consider the usage described in sense 2 above, where 'myriad' acts as part of a nominal (or noun) group (that is, "a myriad of animals"), to be tautological.

Translations

Adjective

myriad (not comparable)

1. (modifying a singular noun) Multifaceted, having innumerable elements [from 18th c.]
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 131:

     one night he would be singing at the barred window and yelling down out of the soft myriad darkness of a May night; the next night he would be gone [...].

   • 2011 April 6–19, Kara Krekeler, "Researchers at Washington U. have 'itch' to cure problem", West End Word, 40 (7), p. 8:

     "As a clinician, it's a difficult symptom to treat," Cornelius said. "The end symptom may be the same, but what's causing it may be myriad."

2. (modifying a plural noun) Great in number; innumerable, multitudinous [from 18th c.]
   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):

     Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.

Translations

See also

• plethora

Swedish

Noun

myriad c

1. a myriad

Declension

References

• myriad in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)