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innumerable

UK/ɪˈnjuːməɹ.əbəl/US/ɪˈnuːməɹ.əbəl/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,882 of 15,258leans writtenformal · an editor’s judgement

Innumerable means too many to be counted. Not infinite — simply past the point of counting.

It goes before a plural noun, so innumerable occasions or innumerable small kindnesses, and it is a deliberate exaggeration. Countless does exactly the same job and is far commoner in speech, which leaves innumerable sounding formal and slightly literary. The word is built from numerable with in- in front, though numerable itself is almost never used on its own.

Definitions of innumerable

  1. 1adjectiveinnumerableToo many to be counted.C1

    “He had told the story on innumerable occasions.”

Also accepted in games: countless

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *nem-

  2. Latin

    innumerābilis

  3. Middle English

    innumerable

  4. English, today

    innumerable

From in- + numerable; from Middle English innumerable, from Latin innumerābilis, from in- + numerābilis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 23 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

innumerable in the wild

  • In Greek mythology, the Oceanids or Oceanides are the nymphs who were the three thousand (a number interpreted as meaning "innumerable") daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.

    Oceanids

  • In Corsican cuisine, it is used in the preparation of innumerable dishes, from first courses to desserts.

    Brocciu

  • The genus name is a combination of the Greek words meaning "innumerable" and "scale", a description of the fruit, and the epithet is Latin for "paradox".

    Myrialepis

  • Gemini Studios served as a breeding ground for innumerable artists and technicians for the south Indian Film Industry.

    Gemini Studios

  • From each the innumerable roofs of slate looked like the leaden surges of a grey, troubled sea after rain.

    The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare· G. K. Chesterton

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.