Definition of umpteen
:very many :indefinitely numerous
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From the M-W Editors
umpteen was our Word of the Day on 05/21/2015. Hear the podcast!
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Recent Examples of umpteen from the Web
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Then again, what if newly arrived White House Chief of Staff John Kelly gets Trump off Twitter and on track, and the umpteen probes into Russia, finances, and whatnot never pan out?
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Now Maxwell Street is quiet, except when a sports bar's umpteen television sets provoke cheers or boos.
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Press umpteen numbers in that automated system, wait a lifetime on hold for a live operator and then get disconnected.
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It’s been painted umpteen times and there’s a Playboy insignia on it.
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Nothing against tourists who seek out marble showers with umpteen nozzles, or on-site spas that promise spiritual rejuvenation and free green apples, or a gym that serves infused waters.
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Now the town is playing whack-a-mole with news outlets, and there are umpteen new places to drop a little scoop (including here—hint, hint).
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Now the town is playing whack-a-mole with news outlets, and there are umpteen new places to drop a little scoop (including here—hint, hint).
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The right stick has also been blessed with umpteen possible combos that lift gameplay level beyond other NCAA titles.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'umpteen.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
I'll go to bed and I'll not get up for umpty-eleven months. You know the feeling. The speaker here is war-weary Bill, a character in Patrick MacGill's early 20th-century novel The Great Push. His "umpty" originated as military slang around 1905 and stood for an indefinite number, generally largish. (It was probably created by analogy to actual numbers such as "twenty.") Soon, there followed "umpteen," blending "umpty" and "-teen." "Umpteen" usually describes an indefinite and large number or amount, while the related "umpteenth" is used for the latest or last in an indefinitely numerous series. We only occasionally use "umpty" these days (and even more rarely "umptieth"), but you're bound to hear or read "umpteen" and "umpteenth" any number of times.
Origin and Etymology of umpteen
blend of umpty (such and such) and -teen (as in thirteen)
UMPTEEN Defined for English Language Learners
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