These words refer to something present in great quantities or something frequently met with. Prevalent may indicate a heavy incidence of something either in time or in place: ideas prevalent during the Renaissance; varieties of wildflowers that are prevalent in the Outback. The word most often suggests factual observation with out any attempt to evaluate the thing observed. Prevailing goes beyond prevalent to suggest that the thing observed has existed and continues to exist in such quantity as to surpass any other kind of thing that might be compared to it. This may often be a matter of subjective evaluation: discussing what he regarded as the prevailing theme of the modern British novel. [While many forms of life are prevalent throughout the world, man and the insect are perhaps the two prevailing forms in nearly every habitat.]

Abundant, unlike prevalent and prevailing, is mostly restricted to observations about a particular place rather than a particular time: an abundant harvest; a cultural life that is more varied and abundant than in smaller towns. Abundant usually suggests a valued or desirable quantity, even though the word may occasionally suggest frequency to the point of excess. Common, by contrast, shades off to suggest something that by its very frequency becomes usual or ordinary: the common people; an experience common to every traveller. Common, furthermore, can apply to time as well as place, much like prevalent: a style of dress common in the 1890s. Neither abundant nor common suggests the notion of dominance present in prevailing. [Although revolutionary ideas were abundant and poverty was common, the prevailing temper was one of sheer indifference.]

Rife and widespread both emphasize aspects of prevalent. Rife suggests the unchecked or unregulated spread of something: a time rife with conflicting theories of art and society; Bribery and corruption were rife in the local courts. As suggested by the last example, this word is frequently used to suggest a heavy incidence of something undesirable, thus making a sharp contrast with abundant. Widespread most specifically refers to place rather than time, suggesting something that is not so much common as occurring over a large area: the widespread misconception that Darwin had argued that we were descended from apes; paperback publishers who have had a widespread effect on the country’s reading habits; tests to determine whether the cancer was widespread.

Plentiful relates, like abundant, to a desirable quantity or even a superfluity of something: a part of the country where work was plentiful; an island where edible fruit is so plentiful that it rots on the vine. Copious indicates an even greater quantity than plentiful and sometimes requires the interpolation of "supply of," "number of," etc., before the operative noun: The squirrel gathered a copious store of nuts. However, the interpolation is unnecessary when reference is made to a volume, outpouring, profusion, cascade or flow: His writings were copious; copious tears. Copious can also serve as a more formal intensification of abundant, sometimes indicating a superfluity: a copious harvest; a scholarly treatise with copious footnotes. Ample, in contrast to copious, means both just enough and more than enough, and so tends to imply an amount between enough and plentiful: ample but not generous servings; an ample income; ample room for a family of five. The word can also refer, in a humorous way, to generous or excessive size when used of a person: the matron’s ample bosom.

SEE: GENEROUS, OUTSTANDING.

ANTONYMS: OCCASIONAL, SCANTY.