as in surplus
the state or an instance of going beyond what is usual, proper, or needed
a bellyful of complaints about the new security procedures
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Recent Examples of bellyful
At dawn, the farmers loaded the trucks with the land’s bellyful of flowers and headed out to sell to the neighboring towns.
—
Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025
The apex of that transformation arrived with the N.F.L. planting this year’s event in Las Vegas, where the prevailing ethos might well be that a bellyful of anything is barely enough.
—Billy Witz, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2024
Who wants to talk of destruction with a bellyful of ribs?
—John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 2 July 2019
Go instead for the exquisite acting, the splendiferous set — and a bellyful of laughs.
—Joanne Engelhardt, The Mercury News, 13 June 2019
The ecologist gets his data and the caiman is none the worse for wear, save for losing a bellyful of rotting flesh.
—Jason Bittel, Smithsonian, 11 Oct. 2017
On its way to skim the lake and grab a bellyful of water to drop on a nearby forest fire, a CL-215—also known as Scooper—gave him a nice little haircut.
—Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, 15 Aug. 2016
Literary Hub, 17 Oct. 2025
The apex of that transformation arrived with the N.F.L. planting this year’s event in Las Vegas, where the prevailing ethos might well be that a bellyful of anything is barely enough.
—Billy Witz, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2024
Who wants to talk of destruction with a bellyful of ribs?
—John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 2 July 2019
Go instead for the exquisite acting, the splendiferous set — and a bellyful of laughs.
—Joanne Engelhardt, The Mercury News, 13 June 2019
The ecologist gets his data and the caiman is none the worse for wear, save for losing a bellyful of rotting flesh.
—Jason Bittel, Smithsonian, 11 Oct. 2017
On its way to skim the lake and grab a bellyful of water to drop on a nearby forest fire, a CL-215—also known as Scooper—gave him a nice little haircut.
—Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, 15 Aug. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bellyful
Noun
-
Back then, online purchases hadn’t been invented, experiences were less curated, and the World Cup was regarded as a festival of soccer rather than an opportunity to extract consumer surplus.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Of course, Indiana closed fiscal year 2025 with a $676 million surplus and billions in reserves, which makes these sorts of decisions possible.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Other oil companies paid an excess of $3 million in addition to the crossing fee to accelerate their passage in the face of soaring oil prices.—
Alma Solis,
Fortune,
24 Apr. 2026
-
This spike is a Herbig–Haro object (HH 399, specifically) — a jet of material launched by a growing protostar accreting too much matter and ejecting the excess along its rotational axis.—
Keith Cooper,
Space.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bellyful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bellyful. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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