Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Yielding or containing plenty; affording ample supply: a copious harvest. See Synonyms at plentiful.
- adj. Large in quantity; abundant: copious rainfall.
- adj. Abounding in matter, thoughts, or words; wordy: "I found our speech copious without order, and energetic without rules” ( Samuel Johnson).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Abundant; plentiful; ample; large in quantity or number: as, copious supplies; a copious feast; copious notes of a lecture; copious rain.
- Exhibiting abundance or fullness, as of thoughts or words.
- Having an abundant supply; abounding; plenteous; liberal.
- Synonyms Ample, Copious, Plenteous (see ample), rich, full, exuberant, overflowing, profuse.
Wiktionary
- adj. Great in quantity or number, profuse, abundant; taking place on a large scale.
- adj. Having an abundant supply.
- adj. Full of thought, information, or matter; exuberant in words, expression, or style.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Large in quantity or amount; plentiful; abundant; fruitful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. affording an abundant supply
- adj. large in number or quantity (especially of discourse)
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Latin copiosus, copia ("abundance"), from Latin co- + ops ("wealth") + -osus ("full of"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin cōpiōsus, from cōpia, abundance; see op- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word copious means plentiful in number deriving from the Latin copiosus, from copia, meaning "abundance.”
“Not only the intensely personal account of a dedicated vegan, the book is buttressed with a wealth of scholarship, reflected in copious footnotes and a wide-ranging bibliography.”
“So if you were around yesterday, you know that while trying to engage in copious napping, I also am aiming to gear up for the coming year.”
“All of which has been documented hereon this site in copious amounts.”
Moveon.org zombie bites off health care protester’s finger. Wait, what? - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“This is of course all secondary to his rigorous super hero training regimen, comprised mostly out of creating “What If?” scenarios with action figures and clocking in copious amounts of time in Batman: Arkham Asylum.”
“The two women express their feelings in copious direct discourse.”
“I must say that as an evening eater, I like the sacrifices of Ramadan since one may pig out upon sunset if I understand the rules and I am an evening eater and drinker (in copious amounts I might add).”
“Mix well with lies, sprinkle in copious amounts of fear and stir until a frenzy is reached.”
Think Progress » Gingrich Pledges Government Shutdown If GOP Wins Back House And Senate
“An even larger number of non-theologians have raised moral objections to gambling and pornography, both of which are found in copious amounts in our military.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Add Bad Ethics to the Problems of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?
“OrenWithAnE: An even larger number of non-theologians have raised moral objections to gambling and pornography, both of which are found in copious amounts in our military.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Add Bad Ethics to the Problems of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘copious’.
-
Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
-
GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
-
GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
-
EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
-
Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
-
GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
-
Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
-
GRE
GRE Vocabs
alacrity, celerity, haste, penitent, prosaic, veracity, paucity, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious and 13 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1827 more...
-
dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
-
Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
-
GRE
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abhor, abjure, abrasive, abridge, abstain, acme, activism, adhere, admonish and 195 more...
-
SAT vocab
abash, abate, abdicate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for copious.
erinoftheyear I hate this word. It's very condescending, and it pisses me off. Aug 15, 2007
seanahan I hear this word most often in terms of copious amounts of alcohol. Dec 19, 2006
brtom Hail Son of God, Saviour of Men, thy Name
Shall be the copious matter of my Song ...
Milton, Paradise Lost III Dec 19, 2006