opulent

UK/ˈɒpjʊlənt/US/ˈɒpjʊlənt/

adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,534 of 15,258leans written

Opulent means richly and showily luxurious. An opulent interior, opulent fabrics, opulent and gilded.

The showiness is part of it — opulence is wealth on display, which is why the word suits hotel lobbies and palaces and not quiet good taste. It is nearly always about surroundings rather than people. Note that the Latin ops means wealth and resources, the same root as opera and copious.

Definitions of opulent

1adjectiveopulentRichly and showily luxurious.C2
“The hotel lobby was opulent, with marble floors, gold mirrors and huge chandeliers.”
synonyms: lavish, sumptuous

opulent is a quality of luxury.

Where it comes from

Latin opulentus comes from ops, wealth or resources. Opera, copious and optimum come from related abundance.

Proto-Indo-European
*h₃ep- — to work; produce in abundance
Latin
opulentus
English, today
opulent

Built from

ops · Latin — wealth, power, resources

Borrowed from Latin opulentus, from ops (“wealth, power, resources”), from Proto-Indo-European h₃ep- (“to work; produce in abundance”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

opulent in the wild

Between 1921 and 1940, the company produced various classic opulent vehicles.
MTU Friedrichshafen
Like cloaks and capes, the opera cloak is usually lined in a coloured expensive fabric, such as silk, or a weave like satin, for a more opulent look.
Opera cloak
As usual with Raphael, the subject's clothing is chosen and painted with close attention; here it is strikingly opulent.
La velata
The film is primarily set in an opulent mansion.
Oliver the Eighth
The Mysuru peta is an opulent formal turban, originally worn by the Kings of Mysore.
Mysore peta

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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.

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