Copious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkoʊ.pi.əs/

Definitions

1. Abundant in quantity; plentiful or existing in large amounts
2. Profuse in number or degree
3. richly supplied or overflowing with a large volume of something

Etymology: The Latin root of "copious" is "copia," which meant "abundance" or "plenty," and it is built from "co-" (together) and "ops," a word for wealth or resources. The Latin "ops" is the same root that gives us "opulent," so "copious" and "opulent" are close relatives that took different paths into English. The suffix "-osus" means "full of," so the word literally describes something full of plenty. The word reached English through Middle English, borrowed from the Latin adjective "copiosus." Its sense has stayed remarkably stable: from the start it has described something present in great quantity, whether a supply of water, a flood of words, or a generous amount of food. Anyone who has compared it with "copy" may have assumed a connection, and the resemblance is only a surface one, since "copy" comes from a different Latin source and the two words are not related in origin.

Synonyms: abundant, plentiful, profuse

Antonyms: scarce, meager