Synonyms

a lot

American

[uh lot] / ə ˈlɒt /

noun

lot.

adverb

lot.

a lot Idioms

Very many, a large number; also, very much. For example, A lot of people think the economy is declining, or Sad movies always made her cry a lot. It is sometimes put as a whole lot for greater emphasis, as in I learned a whole lot in his class. It may also emphasize a comparative indication of amount, as in We need a whole lot more pizza to feed everyone, or Mary had a lot less nerve than I expected. [Colloquial; early 1800s]

Spelling

As a noun and adverb, a lot is frequently misspelled as alot.

Etymology

Origin of a lot

First recorded in 1820–30

Compare meaning

How does a-lot compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

allot vs. a lot

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Freddie Freeman achieved a lot during his 12 years with the Atlanta Braves, but there’s no question he has accomplished even more with the Dodgers.

From Los Angeles Times

"Enough people among my colleagues voted and said: 'You did a good job as director,' and that means a lot," said the 52-year-old Danish-Norwegian auteur filmmaker.

From Barron's

“There is a lot of confusion on the red lines in this deal and essentially what is different between what OpenAI is now doing for the Pentagon vs. Anthropic’s proposal/guardrails,” Ives wrote.

From MarketWatch

“What all this fret is about is whether private credit is about to have a lot higher losses,” said Evercore senior research analyst Glenn Schorr.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023