MEANING
1. A wide, often impressive range of different things presented or available together.
2. A complete suit of armor or another covering that protects something.
Use it for
describing an elaborate display; emphasizing variety as well as abundance; presenting many resources or possibilities together; giving a collection a sense of scale or splendorSuggests a varied, impressive array rather than merely a large number; preserves the older protective image for historical prose. Writing functions: Imagery / Abundant display.
Words that belong together
- a panoply of colors
- a panoply of possibilities
- a full panoply of instruments
On the page
The market opened a panoply of colors beneath the gray walls.
Each room offered a fresh panoply of instruments whose purposes she could only guess.
The old portrait showed him in the full panoply of armor, one hand resting on his helmet.
A panoply of ice sheathed the dormant branches.
Word forms
- Base
- panoply
Usage notes
Noun: panoply; plural panoplies. Modern figurative use is often singular: a panoply of something. Register: formal. Commonness: uncommon (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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