abundance
/əˈbʌnd(ə)ns
/noun
1A very large quantity of something: the tropical island boasts an abundance of wildlife...
- Cunningham believes Scotland's hottest prospects will appear in the renewable energy sector because the country has an abundance of wind and wave resources.
- Record shop shelves all over the land are suddenly flooded with an abundance of Best Of Compilations and Singles Collections.
- He won the WBC super-featherweight title in 1998, and with an abundance of natural talent was reckoned a far better fighter than Hamed.
1.1 [mass noun] The state or condition of having a copious quantity of something; plentifulness: vines and figs grew in abundance she was blessed with talent and charm in abundance...
- Like Yosemite it has nature in abundance with mountains, rivers, waterfalls and wildlife plus a crashing ocean close by.
- There was help in abundance with Mayo Mountain Rescue being joined by a number of teams from around the country.
- Well, in the mountains of Nagano there are two things in abundance: ski slopes and onsens (or baths fuelled by hot springs).
Synonyms
profusion, plentifulness, profuseness, copiousness, amplitude, affluence, lavishness, bountifulness, infinity, opulence, exuberance, luxuriance;
host, plenitude, cornucopia, riot;
plenty, a lot, mass, quantities, scores, millions, multitude
informal sea, ocean(s), wealth, lots, heap(s), mass(es), stack(s), pile(s), load(s), bags, mountain(s), ton(s), oodles
British informal shedload
North American informal slew, gobs, scads
Australian/New Zealand informal swag
vulgar slang shitload
North American vulgar slang assload
rare nimiety
1.2 [mass noun] Plentifulness of the good things of life; prosperity: the growth of industry promised wealth and abundance...
- Lighting a lamp in a house is believed to bring prosperity, plenty and abundance to the family.
- Regardless of whether the scene is set in the seventeenth, eighteenth, or early nineteenth century prosperity and abundance are constants in these images.
- Unlike their parents, who lived through the hardships of the Depression, these baby boomers have known only abundance, prosperity and upward mobility.
1.3The quantity or amount of something present in a particular area, volume, or sample: estimates of the abundance of harp seals...
- We also know their half-lives and can thus determine their relative abundances at the present day, assuming that the isotopes have not been depleted in some way.
- The chemical compositions of those rocks, the relative abundances of the oxygen isotopes locked up in their molecules, their mineralogy, and their textures all betrayed their lunar heritage.
- Hintze gave qualitative estimates of relative species abundances at particular sampling horizons, but did not list total sample sizes.
2(In solo whist) a bid by which a player undertakes to make nine or more tricks.The bid of abundance in trumps is only used to overcall another player's bid of abundance.
Origin
Middle English: from Latin abundantia, from abundant- 'overflowing', from the verb abundare (see abound).
- palaeogeological
- palaeogeologist
- palaeogeology
- palaeogeomagnetic
- palaeogeomorphic
- palaeogeomorphologic
- palaeogeomorphological
- palaeogeomorphology
- palaeogeophysical
- palaeogeophysics
- palaeogeotherm
- palaeogeothermal
- palaeognathous
- palaeograph
- palaeographer
- palaeographic
- palaeographical
- palaeographically
- palaeographist
- palaeography
- palaeogravity
- palaeoherpetologist
- palaeoherpetology
- palaeohydrography
- palaeohydrology