Nimiety
[ni-MAHY-i-tee]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: Latin, 16th century
1.
State of being in excess, more than is needed.
Examples of Nimiety in a sentence
"Arlene had a nimiety of Halloween candy and insisted Carl take some home after the party."
"Our backyard has such a nimiety of sparrows that their constant noise can become disruptive."
About Nimiety
This word comes from the Latin “nimietās,” meaning “excess” or “redundancy.”
Did you Know?
While “nimiety” is a neutral term describing a state of excess, it has frequently been used with negative connotations of wastefulness, dilution, and exhaustion. Often, “nimiety” means not just “more than necessary,” but rather “too much in a way that has unpleasant outcomes.” For example, a salad dressing might be overpowered by a nimiety of vinegar, or a dish might suffer a nimiety of salt or hot peppers. The term can also describe the absence of brevity: A writer might need an editor’s red pen to fix a nimiety of flowery adjectives.
