many

determinerpronounnounadjectivetop 1 000 in film dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈmɛni//
United States//ˈmɛni//
//ˈmɪni//

before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.

determiner

1
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.
We spent many hours and days training, but running clubs boast many hundreds of faster members.
Thou shalt be a father of many nations.
2
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.
There may be as many as ten million species of insect.
I don't have as many friends as my sister does.

Etymology

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; plural”), Serbo-Croatian мно̏гӣ, mnȍgī (“many; much, long; large, numerous”), Ukrainian мно́гий (mnóhyj, “many, multiple”). The noun is from Middle English manye, *menye, from Old English manigeo, menigu (“company, multitude, host”), from Proto-West Germanic *managu, *managī, from Proto-Germanic *managō, *managį̄ (“multitude”), from the same root as the determiner. Cognate with Middle Low German menige, menie, menje (“multitude”), Russian много (mnogo), Serbo-Croatian mnogo.

pronoun

1
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...
By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line, which seems to have shown some ingenuity in avoiding them,[…].

noun

1
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.
2
A considerable number.
I know that my mother cried a many of times from decisions I made.

adjective

1
Existing in large number; numerous.
Let’s take these fears about a rich, strong China to their logical extreme. The U.S. and Chinese governments are always disagreeing—about trade, foreign policy, the environment. Someday the disagreement could be severe. Taiwan, Tibet, North Korea, Iran—the possibilities are many, though Taiwan always heads the list.

Forms

plural: manies
comparative: more
superlative: most

manufacturing · The transformation of raw materials into finished products,…manure · To apply manure (as fertilizer or soil improver).manuscript · Handwritten, or by extension manually typewritten, as opposed…

many · before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.

Many · A surname.mao · The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird…Mao · A common surname from Chinese, from Mandarin, usually…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.