det

many

MEH-nee

det

A large but unspecified number of (used with countable nouns).

"Many people showed up to the protest."

"There aren't many seats left."

pron

A large number of people or things.

"Many of the guests left early."

How to Use Many

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishUsed before countable things to mean "a lot of" — as opposed to "much," which is used for uncountable things.

Common mistake

Use "many" with countable nouns (many books) and "much" with uncountable nouns (much water) — mixing them up is one of the most common English learner errors.

Easily confused with

much →

Common pairings

so many as many as too many

Word Forms

more comparative, more comparative, manies plural, Manys plural, most superlative, most superlative

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

_____ people showed up to the protest.

Etymology

From Old English maniġ, ultimately from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "many" or "much" — related to similar words across most Germanic languages.

Synonyms

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a lot of

Antonyms

few

Related Words

few much dozen

Rhymes for many

any zany botany litany Albany Germany company Tuscany Bethany Tiffany Brittany Epiphany

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