Numerousness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of having a high count or large quantity of entities, reflecting abundance and plenty in diversity or types The nature of being significant in number or vast in presence, indicating variety or extent in a collection The quality of being substantial in quantity or numerous, revealing a richness and multiplicity in the items or subjects present
2. The characteristic of having many units or components overall
3. A condition marked by a great quantity or ample count

Etymology: "Numerousness" is a plain formation: the adjective "numerous" with the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. The suffix itself has a long pedigree. It descends from the Old English "-nes," which in turn traces back through Proto-Germanic forms to Proto-Indo-European roots, and it was one of the most productive ways English made abstract nouns from adjectives, as in "kindness," "happiness," and "darkness." "Numerous" itself is borrowed from Latin "numerosus," meaning "rhythmical" or "countable," built on "numerus," "number." The adjective kept its sense of "consisting of a great many," and "numerousness" simply names that quality. Because "numerous" already carries the idea of largeness in count, the noun is a direct, transparent extension of it rather than a word with a separate history of its own.

Synonyms: abundance, multitude, countlessness, plethora, profusion

Antonyms: scarcity, lack, insufficiency, dearth, paucity