Abundantly

How to spell abundantly

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce abundantly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does abundantly mean?

1. adverbIn large quantities; to a very great degree, more than enough.

Abundantly in a sentence

• The new evidence made her innocence abundantly clear to the jury.

• Fresh herbs grow abundantly in the warm greenhouse all year.

Where does abundantly come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb abundare, which literally meant 'to overflow' or 'to flow over', built from ab- 'off, away from' and undare 'to rise in waves', itself drawn from unda meaning 'a wave'. The original image, then, was of water surging over its banks, a vivid picture of plenty that survives in the modern sense of 'in great quantity'. English took the adjective 'abundant' through Old French in the 1300s, and the adverb 'abundantly' followed naturally by adding the familiar -ly ending. The same unda 'wave' lurks inside relatives such as 'undulate' and 'inundate', which still carry that watery feeling of flooding. Remembering that hidden wave can also help with the spelling: the ending is the Latinate -ant, not -ent, and the d sits quietly between the two unstressed syllables.

How the word is built

• ab- (off, from)
• und (from unda: wave, flow)
• -ant (adjective ending)
• -ly (adverb ending)