overabundant
/'ouvərə'bʌndənt/
Definition
Adjective: 1. Excessively abundant: Existing in an amount that is more than what is needed, useful, or desirable; overly plentiful.
Usage
The word "overabundant" is used to describe a quantity or supply that surpasses normal or necessary levels, often implying a negative consequence such as waste, imbalance, or diminished value due to excess.
Examples
- The region experienced an overabundant harvest, leading to a drastic drop in crop prices.
- Due to overabundant rainfall this spring, the riverbanks are at risk of flooding.
- Critics argue that the overabundant use of special effects detracted from the film's story.
Advanced Usage
- Ecological Context: Often used to describe populations of species that have grown beyond the carrying capacity of their environment.
- Economic/Resource Context: Used to discuss commodities or materials where supply greatly exceeds demand.
Variants and Related Words
- Overabundance (noun): The state or condition of being overabundant.
- Overabundantly (adverb): In an overabundant manner.
Synonyms
- Excessive: More than is necessary, normal, or desirable.
- Superabundant: Abundant to an excessive degree.
- Pleonastic: Using more words than necessary (a more specific, rhetorical synonym for verbal excess).
- Surfeiting: Supplying or filling to excess.
Antonyms
- Scarce: Insufficient for the demand.
- Deficient: Not having enough of a specified quality or ingredient.
- Sparse: Thinly dispersed or scattered.
Related Phrases and Idioms
- An embarrassment of riches: An idiom describing a situation where there is an overabundance of valuable things, making it hard to choose.
Adjective
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excessively abundant
