mother lode

Definition of mother lodenext
as in gold mine
an abundant source the university has long been a mother lode of athletic talent, with many alumni joining the rarefied ranks of the professionals

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mother lode Game shows have always been about making a deal, but this was the mother lode! Lindsay Soll, EW.com, 25 July 2025 And in another kind of desert, the Tatacoa in Colombia, two bare-bones museums hold a mother lode of 10 million-year-old fossils for study. Troy Aidan Sambajon, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Mar. 2025 Considering how much Italy is growing in terms of national branding, accessing the mother lode of tourism could be a great opportunity for foreign investors interested in Italy. Andrea Pietrini, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2025 There are nearly 1,600 types of beans alone in this mother lode called The Exchange, each with its own story of human connection. Margaret Roach, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for mother lode
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother lode
Noun
  • Separately, at least 15 informal miners were killed when a defunct gold mine partly collapsed Monday in the district of Wadi Halfa, close to Sudan’s border with Egypt, authorities said.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026
  • Streptomyces are bacteria that live in soil and are known as gold mines for antibiotic molecule discovery.
    Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 26 June 2026
Noun
  • The Clark Art Institute, a treasure trove of Western art, opened in the scenic Berkshire Mountains in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1955.
    Brian Boucher, ARTnews.com, 16 July 2026
  • Vintage shops and thrift stores can be treasure troves for all sorts of odds and ends to fill any space of the house—especially because vintage decor is having a major moment right now.
    Shivani Vyas, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 July 2026
Noun
  • This capability allows for longer coding sessions, large repositories, and workflows combining text, images, and other information, according to Moonshot.
    Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 19 July 2026
  • That process may reveal fake repository names the models invent regularly.
    Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Mother lode.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20lode. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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