In French, as you may know, beaucoup is an adverb meaning "a lot" or "much" (as in merci beaucoup, meaning "thanks a lot"). Beaucoup isn't used on its own as an adjective in French; if you want to say "many" in French, you use the phrase beaucoup de. In other words, you would say beaucoup de livres ("a lot of books"), not beaucoup livres. But French grammar was thrown to the wind when English speakers borrowed this word. Beaucoup has been used as a playful slang adjective in English since at least the 19th century.
we were able to make beaucoup bucks working overtime at the power plant
Recent Examples on the WebBut as Nathaniel said, the major party nominees are going to have beaucoup money at their disposal, and given how much spending there is in presidential campaigns, keep in mind the diminishing returns on ad spending and the like.—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 2 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beaucoup.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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