different between plentiful vs plenty

English

Alternative forms

• plentyful, plentifull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English plentiful, plentyfull, plentefull, equivalent to plenty +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?nt?fl?/

Adjective

plentiful (comparative plentifuller or plentifuler or more plentiful, superlative plentifullest or plentifulest or most plentiful)

1. Existing in large number or ample amount.

   a plentiful harvest

   a plentiful supply of water

   She accumulated a plentiful collection of books.

2. Yielding abundance; fruitful.

   Some years, the tree is a plentiful source of apples.
3. (obsolete) lavish; profuse; prodigal
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Expense

     He that is plentiful in expenses will hardly be preserved from decay.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:plentiful

Derived terms

• plentifully
• plentifulness

Related terms

• plenteous
• plenty

Translations

Further reading

• plentiful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• plentiful in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• plentiful at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From Middle English plentie, plentee, plente, from Anglo-Norman plenté, from Old French plenté, from Latin plenitatem, accusative of plenitas (“fullness”), from plenus (“complete, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?h?nós (“full”), from which English full also comes, via Proto-Germanic. Related to the Latin derivatives complete, deplete, replete.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pl?nti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?pl?nti/, [?pl???i], [?pl?ni]
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): [?pl???i], [?pl?ni]
• Rhymes: -?nti
• Homophone: Pliny (pin-pen merger, silent 't')

Noun

plenty (countable and uncountable, plural plenties)

1. A more-than-adequate amount.

   We are lucky to live in a land of peace and plenty.

   • 1798, Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population:

     During this season of distress, the discouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is already in tillage

Usage notes

While some dictionaries analyse this word as a noun, others analyse it as a pronoun, or as both a noun and a pronoun.

Synonyms

• abundance
• profusion

Derived terms

Translations

Pronoun

plenty

1. More than enough.

   I think six eggs should be plenty for this recipe.

Usage notes

See the notes about the noun.

Adverb

plenty (not comparable)

1. More than sufficiently.

   This office is plenty big enough for our needs.
2. (colloquial) Used as an intensifier, very.

   She was plenty mad at him.

Translations

Determiner

plenty

1. (nonstandard) much, enough

   There'll be plenty time later for that

2. (nonstandard) many

   Get a manicure. Plenty men do it.

Adjective

plenty (comparative more plenty, superlative most plenty)

1. (obsolete) plentiful
   • 1597, Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act I, Scene IV:

     if reasons were as plenty as blackberries

   • There are, among the Irish, men of as much worth and honour as any among the English: nay, to speak the truth, generosity of spirit is rather more common among them. I have known some examples there, too, of good husbands; and I believe these are not very plenty in England.

   • 1836, The American Gardener's Magazine and Register, volume 2, page 279:

     Radishes are very plenty. Of cabbages a few heads of this year's crop have come to hand this week, and sold readily at quotations; […]

Translations

Related terms

• plenitude
• plentitude

References

Anagrams

• pentyl