overabundance

noun

over·​abun·​dance ˌō-vər-ə-ˈbən-dən(t)s 

plural overabundances

: a large surplus : excess

an overabundance of options

Between the women's movement and the first large wave of baby boomers, the career track was suddenly clogged with an overabundance of qualified people.

—Phillip Moffitt

overabundant

ˌō-vər-ə-ˈbən-dənt 

adjective

Overabundant use of livestock and chicken feed laced with antibiotics is a primary force behind the evolution of drug-resistant strains that then find their way into people.

—Wayne Biddle

Overabundant elk ate trees down to their nubs, leaving beavers with no lumber for their dams, which, in turn, changed the flow of rivers.

—Sara Reardon

overabundantly adverb

The meals … were mainly taken at the hotel and were included in the trip package. We were fed overabundantly three times a day.

—R. V. Denenberg

… Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, an overabundantly plotted melodrama set in 15th-century Paris.

—Tom Gliatto

Synonyms

• bellyful
• excess
• fat
• overage
• overflow
• overkill
• overmuch
• overplus
• oversupply
• plethora
• plus
• redundancy
• superabundance
• superfluity
• surfeit
• surplus
• surplusage

Examples of overabundance in a Sentence

an overabundance of desserts at a potluck dinner

Recent Examples on the Web

The lack of a consistent narrative flow was also partly due to the overabundance of various advantages and twists at play. —Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024

In architecture, part and parcel of the overabundance of image sources is the deterioration of the notion that architectural solutions ought to simply be local, growing from place. —Richard Olsen, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024

That said, your more personal connections could suffer at the moment due to the overabundance of newfound popularity or work to be done. —Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 8 Oct. 2024

In an age of streaming overabundance, that’s everything. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above