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Galore means “in large numbers or amounts,” making it a synonym of useful words like abundant and plentiful. But its charm lies not in its meaning but in its sound and syntax. Galore doesn’t sound like familiar Germanic or Latinate words, and for good reason—it’s one of a small number of Irish borrowings, coming from go leor, meaning “enough.” It also takes an odd position in phrases: it’s used postpositively, which means that it follows the word or words it modifies. First defined in one our dictionaries way back in 1864, the word was for many years obscure and a bit of a conundrum. Limited evidence of the word in use, along with its unusual syntax, led to some editorial back-and-forth about whether galore was an adjective or adverb; one can see how in a phrase like “someone who has money galore” galore might have been interpreted as modifying the verb have rather than the noun money. But by the seventh edition of our Collegiate dictionary, published in 1963, enough evidence had accumulated to confidently declare galore an adjective. If you’re curious about the Great Galore Grammar Debate, this article has information galore.
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“Galore.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/galore. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.
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