plenteous

adjective

plen·​te·​ous ˈplen-tē-əs 

1

: fruitful, productive

a plenteous harvest

—J. G. Frazer

—usually used with in or of

the seasons had been plenteous in corn

—George Eliot

2

: constituting or existing in plenty

plenteous grace with thee is found

—Charles Wesley

plenteously adverb

plenteousness noun

Synonyms

• plentiful
• ample
• generous
• plenty

Examples of plenteous in a Sentence

a plenteous supply of napkins for the backyard barbecue

Recent Examples on the Web

Orton’s operation later expanded to include saxophonist Alabaster dePlume, whose part-time pursuits are too plenteous to list here, and guitar wonk Grey McMurray. —Matthew Richards, Chicago Tribune, 7 Nov. 2022

Because the communal areas of the house are voluminous and plenteous, furniture and art choices needed to skew extra large. —Charles Curkin, ELLE Decor, 13 July 2022

Early accounts say the bird used to be so plenteous that flocks would darken the sky. —Story Hinckley, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 July 2018

Word History

Etymology

Middle English plenteus, plenteous, plenteouse, borrowed from Anglo-French plenteos, plentuous "rich, fertile, abounding, plentiful," probably from plenté "abundance, plenty entry 2" + -os, -ous -ous

Note: These Middle English and Anglo-French forms are far outnumbered by variants with medial -v-/-f-/-u-: plentevous, plenteuous, plentiuous, plentifus, etc., for English, and plentivous, plentevous, etc., for French. These have been taken as suffixation with -ous of Anglo-French plentif "abundant, plentiful," apparently formed from plenté and -if -ive. It is uncertain if plenteus, etc., is formed as shown in the above etymology, or from vocalization and deletion of /v/, perhaps after shift of the stress to the initial syllable; the use of <u> and <v> as interchangeable graphic variants for /v/ or /w/ or /u/ allow for a variety of readings. A full display of these and other variants can be found in Middle English Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary, third edition.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

plenteous

adjective

plen·​te·​ous ˈplent-ē-əs 

: plentiful sense 2

plenteously adverb