abundance
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- (obsolete) abundaunce
- (obsolete) habundance
- (obsolete) boundance
- (card games) abondance
Etymology edit
From Middle English abundaunce, habaundance,[1] from Old French habundance,[2] abondance, from Latin abundantia (“fullness, plenty”), from abundō (“to overflow”). Equivalent to abound + -ance.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈbʌn.dn̩s/
- (US) IPA(key): /əˈbʌn.dn̩s/, /əˈbʌn.dn̩ts/, /əˈbn̩.dn̩s/[1]
Audio (US) (file)
Noun edit
abundance (countable and uncountable, plural abundances)
- A large quantity; many. [First attested around 1150 to 1350.][2]
- Synonyms: heap, load; see also Thesaurus:lot
- Due to the abundance of art material, the class made a giant collage.
- There is not a great abundance of time, so please don't dawdle.
- An overflowing fullness or ample sufficiency; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; plentifulness. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2]
- Synonyms: exuberance, copiousness, overflow, plenty, plenteousness, plenitude, plentitude; see also Thesaurus:excess
- c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War:
- It is lamentable to remember what abundance of noble blood hath been shed with small benefit to the Christian state.
- Wealth; affluence; plentiful amount of resources. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2]
- Synonyms: riches, affluence, wealth; see also Thesaurus:wealth
- Frequency, amount, ratio of something within a given environment or sample. [First attested in the late 19th century.][2]
- (card games) A bid to take nine or more tricks in solo whist. [First attested in the late 19th century.][2]
- (Scotland) enough, sufficiency.[3]
Usage notes edit
- Synonym notes: abundance, plenty, exuberance. These words express increasing levels of fullness.
- plenty denotes there is enough to supply every need; e.g., plenty of food, plenty of money, etc.
- abundance expresses more, and gives the idea of superfluity or excess; e.g., the abundance of riches, an abundance of wit and humor
- Exuberance expresses even more, and implies a bursting forth on every side, producing an enormous amount of superfluity or redundancy; e.g. an exuberance of talent, lakes replete with an exuberance of fish
Synonyms edit
- abundation (Chester)
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
ample sufficiency
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wealth, affluence
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solo whist: bid to take nine or more tricks
References edit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 8
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abundance”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.
- ^ “abundance, n.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
- “abundance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.