umpteen
4
7.9
- adjective
- /ˈʌmpˌtin/
- Informal
:
innumerable
- After umpteen attempts, he finally learned to play the guitar.
- umpteen times
- umpteen years
So we actually, we taxpayers, I mean, are paying for the ZZ royal king and his umpteen wives.
- So we actually, we taxpayers, I mean, are paying for the ZZ royal king and his umpteen wives.
- How how can you love a woman and commit adultery for umpteen years and going around raping and killing women that he's lured into his web of deceit?
- But if you think about the fashion of the day, for the Victorian woman, fashion was a real prison with your corset, umpteen petty cats.
Examples
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We're not going down the same corridor umpteen times.
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Didn't you pay attention to the last umpteen elections?
Blog text (32) -
We have umpteen trading accounts.
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You got about umpteen calls from Vernon.
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When technology improves, umpteen items are out of print and will be sold out at greatly discounted prices.
Blog text (20) -
So sort through the umpteen different brands of detergent and figure out the exact best one for me.
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I was just thinking about how I haven't seen a blog post from you in umpteen weeks now!
Blog text (30) -
"And how can you read all the papers and keep up to snuff if you serve on umpteen boards?"
Blog text (22) -
I worry about him, living alone in Greenwich Village, moving from one short-lived writing job to another, smoking umpteen packs a day.
Fiction book (2002) -
Yes, I can find umpteen million things to critique it on factually, politically, and morally.
Blog text (27)
Synonyms
8
8.1
A very large number that people use to show exaggeration
1
7.5
So many that you cannot count them
A very large number people say when they do not know the exact amount
A large unknown number or amount
Describes something that has happened many times and annoys people
Antonyms
Compounds
How Many
Surface Forms
Etymology
Umpteen comes from a playful old word umpty plus the familiar -teen (as in 'thirteen'). Umpty was a joking way to name any unknown number, so umpteen means 'very many' or 'a lot' when the exact number is 'not an exact number'.