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abundant

/əˈbʌndənt//əˈbʌndənt/·adjective
existing in large quantities; more than enough
Fig. 1 — Someone fills my cup, and then keeps filling it with the calm of a man who has never once been told no.
01Definition

Abundant means there is more than enough — the Latin abundare pictures water 'overflowing' a vessel. An abundant harvest fills every barn, abundant evidence leaves no room for doubt, abundant wildlife crowds a healthy reef. The word carries a quiet generosity: where something is abundant, no one has to compete for it, which is precisely what makes it the opposite of scarce. Abundance can be squandered, too — the richest fisheries are the ones we deplete first.

02In use
  • iRainforests support an abundant variety of life found nowhere else.
  • iiThere is now abundant evidence that the treatment works.
  • iiiSolar energy is abundant, but storing it remains the real problem.
03Collocations
  • abundant evidence
  • an abundant supply
  • abundant resources
  • abundantly clear

Family abundance (noun) · abundantly (adverb)

04Relations

=plentiful, ample, copious, profuse, bountiful

≠scarce, sparse, meager

05Compared
PairThe difference
abundant vs redundantmore than enough, happily plentiful → abundant; surplus to need, unneeded → redundant.
abundant vs scarcedemand outruns supply → scarce; more than enough to go round → abundant.
06TOEFL & IELTS

A high-value adjective for IELTS Writing — 'abundant evidence/resources' strengthens any claim — and for TOEFL ecology passages about abundant versus scarce species. The adverb 'abundantly' lives in the fixed phrase 'abundantly clear'. Learn it as the natural opposite of 'scarce', a pairing reading questions love to test.

07Asked
Is it 'abundant in' or 'abundant with'?
'Abundant in' is the standard pattern for what a place is rich in: 'a region abundant in minerals'. 'Abundant with' occurs but is several times rarer — safest to avoid it in exams. And when the plentiful thing is itself the subject, no preposition is needed at all: 'fish are abundant in these waters'.
What is the difference between abundant, plentiful, and ample?
Plentiful is the neutral word for 'in good supply' (plentiful food). Ample means enough for the purpose, with room to spare (ample time, ample parking) — it measures against a need. Abundant is the most generous and most formal: overflowing, more than anyone needs. Ample satisfies; abundant overwhelms.
What does 'abundantly clear' mean?
Completely, unmissably obvious — and usually said with an edge: 'she made it abundantly clear that the meeting was over' implies the point was driven home harder than politeness required. It is by far the adverb's favourite home; outside this phrase, 'abundantly' is fairly rare.
Is abundant a formal word?
Formal-leaning, yes. In conversation people say 'plenty of' or 'loads of'; abundant belongs to written registers — science ('abundant rainfall'), economics ('abundant labour'), literary description. That is exactly why it earns marks in IELTS writing: it signals written-English range without being obscure.
What does 'in abundance' mean?
In large quantities — the noun's fixed adverbial phrase, and it follows what it describes: 'the island has fresh water in abundance'. The noun abundance can also stand alone as a near-technical term: ecologists measure the abundance of a species, meaning simply how many of it there are.
Is 'an abundant amount' correct?
It is grammatical but redundant — abundance already contains the idea of amount. Write 'abundant evidence', not 'an abundant amount of evidence'; the direct pairing is shorter and stronger. The same trim works for its cousins: 'ample space', never 'an ample amount of space'.
What is the opposite of abundant?
Scarce — and the pair is worth learning together, because economics and ecology passages pivot on it. The scene above is abundance itself: a cup filled past the brim from a jug with no bottom. Scarcity is that jug running dry; the two words face off, scene against scene, on the scarce vs abundant page in the 'Compared' list above.