replete
adjective
William Safire
Did you know?
Given that one of the roots of replete is the Latin verb plēre, meaning "to fill," it isn't surprising that the word has synonyms such as full and complete. Replete, full, and complete all indicate that something contains all that is wanted or needed or possible, but there are also subtle differences between the words. Full implies the presence or inclusion of everything that can be held, contained, or attained ("a full schedule"), while complete applies when all that is needed is present ("a complete picture of the situation"). Replete is the synonym of choice when fullness is accompanied by a sense of satiety.
Synonyms
- blubbery
- chubby
- corpulent
- fat
- fleshy
- full
- gross
- lardy
- obese
- overweight
- plump
- podgy [chiefly British]
- portly
- pudgy
- roly-poly
- rotund
- round
- tubby
Example Sentences
Ew Staff, EW.com, 9 Sep. 2022 The queen always seemed preternaturally suited for this quiet, obliging role, replete with towering soft power but little hard power. Alexander Smith, NBC News, 8 Sep. 2022 Property law is replete with rules that recognize landowners’ rights in this low airspace, from condominium laws to the laws governing overhang easements. Troy Rule, Fortune, 2 Sep. 2022 History is replete with tragic figures (most of them men) who squandered their power or fame or good reputations. Jodi Enda, CNN, 19 Aug. 2022 By 1930, there were eight hangars on the site and a new administration building replete with a waiting room, dining room, sleeping quarters and offices, according to accounts in the Minneapolis Star. Janet Moore, Star Tribune, 28 May 2021 Early pictures of the garden show a space painfully empty of the layering and vitality of a replete garden. Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2020 Riley’s bitter precision, replete with dark humor, offers perhaps more reality than our saccharine culture wishes to contend with, and this may explain why her work is not yet better known in the United States. Claire Messud, Harper’s Magazine , 17 Aug. 2022 The centerpiece of her home’s library is a chintzy ottoman with a pink, cream and green print replete with a ruffle along the bottom. New York Times, 16 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
Middle English replet, replete, repleet "filled (with), filled with food or drink, sated, having an excess of humors," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French replet "filled," borrowed from Latin replētus "full (of), fully endowed (with)," from past participle of replēre "to make full again, replenish, restore, fill up, sate," from re- re- + plēre "to fill" — more at full entry 1
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
replete
adjective
repleteness
noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- fullness
- fulness
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- black hole
- vacancy
- void
- blank
- emptiness
- nothingness
- blankness
- vacuum
- vacuity
- inane