many
Syllables: ma·ny/ˈmɛni//ˈmɛni/
many determiner: before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.
Determiner
many (comparative more, superlative most)
- before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.
- Not many such people enjoyed playing chess.
- There are very many different ways to cook a meal.
- Synonyms:
- numerous
- before a countable noun: (in combinations such as 'as many', 'so many', 'this many') Used to indicate, demonstrate or compare the number of people or things.
- We don't need this many bananas. Put some back.
- I've never seen these many stars in the sky.
Pronoun
many
- A large, indefinite number of people or things.
- Many are called, but few are chosen.
- Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1
Noun
many (plural (rare) manies)
- A multitude; a great aggregate; a mass of people; the generality; the common herd.
- Democracy must balance the rights of the few against the will of the many.
- Synonyms:
- crowd, mob, canaille, commonality, commonalty, commonage, demos, everyone, general public, great unhosed
- A considerable number.
- I know that my mother cried a many of times from decisions I made.2005, Florence Dyer, A Mother's Cry!: Touches the Very Heart of God, page 22
Adjective
many (comparative more, superlative most)
- Existing in large number; numerous.
- I was among the many visitors to that town.
- Among my many faults is self-importance.
Proper noun capitalized: Many
Many (countable and uncountable, plural Manys)
- A surname.
- A town, the parish seat of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States.
many meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
many in Hindi
- an indefinite large number of
- बहुत bahut, बहु bahu, अधिक adhik, ज़्यादा zyādā
many in Tamil
- an indefinite large number of
- நிறைய niṟaiya, பல pala
many in Urdu
- an indefinite large number of
- بہت bahut, زیادہ zyādā
many in Bengali
- an indefinite large number of people or things
- অনেক onek
More languagesFewer languages
- many in Telugu
- చాలా cālā
- many in Malayalam
- അനേകം anēkaṁ
- many in Kannada
- ಅನೇಕರು, ಹಲವು, ಅನೇಕ
- many in Punjabi
- ਬਹੁਤ ਸਾਰੇ, ਕਈ
- many in Gujarati
- ઘણા
- many in Odia
- ବହୁ bahu
- many in Sanskrit
- बहु bahu
- many in Pashto
- ډېر ḍer, زيات zyât
- many in Tagalog
- marami
- many in Arabic
- كَثِير kaṯīr, متعدد
- many in Malay
- banyak, ramai
- many in Indonesian
- banyak
- many in Persian
- زیاد ziyâd, چندین čandin, بسیار besiyâr, خیلی xeyli
- many in Thai
- ขนัด kà-nàt, มาก mâak, เยอะ yə́, รุ่ม rûm
- many in Vietnamese
- nhiều, lắm
- many in Myanmar
- များ mya:, များကြီး mya:kri:
Examples of many in a sentence
- We spent many hours and days training, but running clubs boast many hundreds of faster members.
- There may be as many as ten million species of insect.
- I don't have as many friends as my sister does.
- I did it in a moment of conceit and folly—one of my many such moments—one of my many such hours—years.1864–65, Charles Dickens, chapter 15, in Our Mutual Friend:
- Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive.2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68:
- Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
Synonyms of many
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of many
| Determiner | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more |
| superlative | most |
| alternative form (obsolete) | manie |
| Noun | |
| plural (rare) | manies |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more |
| superlative | most |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Manys |
Origin of many
From Middle English many, mani, moni, from Old English maniġ, moniġ, maneġ (“many”), from Proto-West Germanic *manag, from Proto-Germanic *managaz (“many; much”), from Proto-Indo-European *menegʰ-, *mengʰ- (“many, sufficient”) or Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂- (“big, great”). Cognates Cognate with Scots mony (“many”), Yola many (“many”), North Frisian manag, manig, mäning (“many”), Alemannic German meng (“many”), Central Franconian mannich, männich (“many”), Dutch menig (“many”), German manch (“many, some”), Low German männich, männig (“many”), Luxembourgish muench, munch, munnech (“many”), Danish mangen (“many”), Faroese mangur (“many”), Icelandic margur (“many”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk mang, mange (“many”), Swedish mången (“many”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐍃 (manags, “many; much”), French maint (“many”); also Cornish menowgh (“frequent, often”), Irish minic (“frequently, often”), Manx mennick (“frequent, often”), Scottish Gaelic minig (“frequent”), Welsh mynych (“frequent, often”), Belarusian мно́га (mnóha, “many; much”), Bulgarian and Russian мно́го (mnógo, “many; much”), Czech mnohý (“many, numerous”), Macedonian мно́гу (mnógu, “very; many; much”), Polish mnogi (“numerous...
Borrowed from French Many or a variant of Maney. The town in Louisiana is named after a Colonel Many.
Words formed from many
- many-to-many
- many-to-one
- one-to-many
- a fair booty makes many a thief
- a good many
- a great many
- have a few too many
- have one's fingers in many pies
- how many languages do you speak
- how many siblings do you have
- infinitely many
- in so many words
- know how many beans make five
- longways for as many as will
- manifold
- maniness
- maniverse
- man of many parts
- many a mickle makes a muckle
- many an
- many and varied
- many and various
- many another
- many a time
- many a time and oft
- many a time and often
- many a times
- many at times
- many-banded krait
- many-bodied
- many-body problem
- many-coloured
- manycore
- many-eyed
- many-faced
- many-faceted
- manyfold
- many-handed
- many-handedly
- many-handedness
- many hands make light work
- many happies
- many happy returns
- manyhood
- many-kinded
- many-layered
- many-many
- many moons ago
- many moons from now
- manyness
- many-one
- many-partedness
- manyplies
- many-plumed moth
- many-seed goosefoot
- many-sided
- many-sidedness
- manysome
- many-sorted logic
- many-splendored
Phrases with many
- to many
- too many
- many time
- many times
- many thanks
- one too many
- wear many hats
- wore many hats
- worn many hats
- many such cases
- Too Many Mouths
- wears many hats
34 more phrasesFewer phrases
- men of many parts
- wearing many hats
- had a few too many
- has a few too many
- wear too many hats
- wore too many hats
- worn too many hats
- wears too many hats
- how many stops until
- having a few too many
- wearing too many hats
- write once, read many
- wrong on so many levels
- too many balls in the air
- knew how many beans make five
- too many cooks spoil the soup
- too many cooks spoil the stew
- had one's fingers in many pies
- has one's fingers in many pies
- known how many beans make five
- knows how many beans make five
- too many chefs spoil the broth
- too many cooks spoil the broth
- too many cooks spoils the broth
- how many fingers am I holding up
- knowing how many beans make five
- having one's fingers in many pies
- there are many ways to skin a cat
- there's many a slip twixt cup and lip
- too many chiefs and not enough indians
- there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip
- success has many fathers, failure is an orphan
- there's many a slip between the cup and the lip
- there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle
Words that rhyme with many
Questions about many
- What does many mean?
- Many means before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.
- What is many in Hindi?
- Many in Hindi is बहुत (bahut), बहु (bahu), अधिक (adhik). See Many meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use many in a sentence?
- We spent many hours and days training, but running clubs boast many hundreds of faster members.
- What part of speech is many?
- Many can be a determiner, a pronoun, a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce many?
- Many is pronounced /ˈmɛni/ (UK).
Words near many in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: many (page history and authors); Many (page history and authors); many (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); many (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); many (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-many.ogg, En-us-many.ogg.
Cite this entry: “many.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/many. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.