plethora

English

WOTD – 26 April 2006

Etymology

From Late Latin plēthōra, from Ancient Greek πληθώρη (plēthṓrē, “fullness, satiety”), from πλήθω (plḗthō, “to be full”) +‎ -η (-ē, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: plĕʹthərə, plĕʹdhərə, plĭthôʹrə, IPA^(key): /ˈplɛθəɹə/, /ˈplɛðəɹə/, /plɪˈθɔːɹə/
• (General American) enPR: plĕʹthərə, IPA^(key): /ˈplɛθəɹə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹə

Noun

plethora (countable and uncountable, plural plethorae or plethoras)

1. (usually followed by of) An excessive amount or number; an abundance.

   The menu offers a plethora of cuisines from around the world.

   • 1817, Francis Jeffrey, review of Lalla Rookh, in the Edinburgh Review

     He labours under a plethora of wit and imagination.

   • 1849, Herman Melville, Redburn: His First Voyage. […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     I pushed my seat right up before the most insolent gazer, a short fat man, with a plethora of cravat round his neck, and fixing my gaze on his, gave him more gazes than he sent.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature (The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction):

     Meanwhile other hands had not been idle, so that above the dreary plethora of trash like Marquis von Grosse's Horrid Mysteries..., there arose many memorable weird works both in English and German.

   • 1986, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Randy Newman, ¡Three Amigos! (film)

     Jefe: We have many beautiful piñatas for your birthday celebration, each one filled with little surprises!

     El Guapo: How many piñatas?

     Jefe: Many piñatas, many!

     El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?

     Jefe: A what?

     El Guapo: A plethora.

     Jefe: Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.

   • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 233:

     The story of the woodhen is one outstanding conservation triumph in a plethora of tragedy.

2. (medicine) Excess of blood in the skin, especially in the face and especially chronically.
   • 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii:

     [Y]our Character at Present is like a Person in a Plethora, absolutely dying of too much Health—

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC:

     The food necessary for the maintenance of his dog, a bull-terrier, in the condition of ferocious plethora to which it was accustomed, he generously declared himself willing to pay for out of his own pocket, […]

Synonyms

• (excess, abundance): glut, myriad, surfeit, superfluity, slew

Hypernyms

• (excess of blood in the skin): hyperemia, hyperperfusion, congestion, engorgement, injection

Coordinate terms

• (excess of blood in the skin): flushing, blushing, floridity, ruddiness

Related terms

• plethoric

Translations

excess, abundance

• Bulgarian: изобилие (bg) n (izobilie), излишък (bg) m (izlišǎk)
• Catalan: plètora f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過多／过多 (zh) (guòduō), 過剩／过剩 (zh) (guòshèng), 過量／过量 (zh) (guòliàng)

• Czech: spousta (cs), přemíra f, nadbytek (cs) m
• Danish: overflod c
• Dutch: overmaat (nl)
• Finnish: yletön määrä, ylenpalttisuus (fi)
• French: pléthore (fr) f
• Galician: plétora f
• German: Fülle (de) f, Übermaß (de) n
• Greek: πληθώρα (el) f (plithóra)
• Hungarian: túltengés (hu), özön (hu)
• Italian: pletora (it)
• Latin: plethora
• Macedonian: изо́билство n (izóbilstvo), мно́штво n (mnóštvo)
• Maori: maruru
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overflod m

  Nynorsk: overflod

• Portuguese: pletora (pt) f, plêiade (pt) f, profusão (pt) f, abundância (pt) f, infinidade (pt) f, série (pt) f
• Russian: изоби́лие (ru) n (izobílije), оби́лие (ru) n (obílije), избы́ток (ru) m (izbýtok)
• Spanish: plétora (es)
• Swedish: överflöd (sv) n
• Turkish: çokluk (tr), doluluk (tr), fazlalık (tr)
• Ukrainian: надмірність f (nadmirnistʹ), надлишок m (nadlyšok)

excess of blood in the skin

• Finnish: punoitus (fi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: blodoverfylling m or f

• Ukrainian: повнокров'я n (povnokrovʺja)

See also

• erythema
• rash

References

• “plethora” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
  Pronounced: /ˈplɛθərə/, /plɪˈθɔərə/.

Anagrams

• Althorpe, traphole, tropheal

Latin

See also: plētūra

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πληθώρη (plēthṓrē, “fullness, satiety”), from πλήθω (plḗthō, “to be full”) +‎ -η (-ē, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /pleˈto.ra/, [pleˈt̪ɔːrä]

Noun

plēthōra f (genitive plēthōrae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) plethora

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	plēthōra	plēthōrae
Genitive	plēthōrae	plēthōrārum
Dative	plēthōrae	plēthōrīs
Accusative	plēthōram	plēthōrās
Ablative	plēthōrā	plēthōrīs
Vocative	plēthōra	plēthōrae

Descendants

• → English: plethora