panoply
noun
William BauckeS. P. B. MaisLewis Mumford
Did you know?
Despite having Greek origins and similar sounds, panoply is not related—etymologically or semantically—to monopoly; its history has more to do with Mediterranean warfare than Mediterranean Avenue. Panoply comes from the Greek word panoplia, which referred to the full suit of armor worn by hoplites, heavily armed infantry soldiers of ancient Greece. Panoplia is a blend of the prefix pan-, meaning “all,” and hopla, meaning “arms” or “armor.” (As you may have guessed, hopla is also an ancestor of hoplite.) Panoply entered English in the early 17th century with its Greek use intact: it referred to a full set of armor—an impressive array, you might say, of protective bits and bobs, from breastplates to brassards. Over time, panoply developed its figurative sense referring to an impressive, extensive collection or array of things, as in “She won the game by bankrupting her opponents with a panoply of properties built up with houses and hotels.”
Examples of panoply in a Sentence
Ross Douthat, The Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2024
Eligible students receive a panoply of perks, including mentorship, coaching, 24/7 access to on-call staff, and much more.
—Steven Aquino, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
And, each time, he is vilified—first by militant AIDS activists, later by anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, populist Republicans and libertarians, and a panoply of conspiracy theorists.
—Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
The price of not winning a war, however, is a panoply of negative objectives: not losing, not giving up, not admitting defeat, not allowing anything to threaten the survival of the regime.
—Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 13 Jan. 2023
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Cite this Entry
“Panoply.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/panoply. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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panoply
noun
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