Meaning & use
vast quantity
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Meanings
phrasecountable
an extremely large amount or number of something.
Grammar: Countable noun phrase: use a vast quantity of before uncountable nouns, or vast quantities of for emphasis on many separate amounts.
Patterns
- a vast quantity of something
- vast quantities of something
- in vast quantities
The factory uses a vast quantity of water every day.
Vast quantities of grain were stored in the old warehouses.
Cheap clothes are produced in vast quantities and shipped around the world.
phrasecountable
a very large supply or stock of something that is available.
Grammar: Often used with verbs like buy, sell, or produce to talk about big volumes of goods or materials.
Patterns
- buy something in vast quantities
- sell something in vast quantities
- produce something in vast quantities
The company buys paper in vast quantities to keep costs down.
Supermarkets sell bottled water in vast quantities during a heatwave.
Word forms
| plural | vast quantities |
|---|
Common combinations
- a vast quantity of
- A vast quantity of data was collected during the study.
- vast quantities of
- Vast quantities of plastic end up in the ocean.
- in vast quantities
- The medicine is now made in vast quantities.
- consume a vast quantity of
- Older machines consume a vast quantity of electricity.
- a vast quantity of information
- The internet holds a vast quantity of information.
Synonyms and how they differ
- huge amount
- Used in the same way and sounds a little more conversational than vast quantity.
- enormous number
- Better when you are counting separate things, as in an enormous number of cars.
- great deal
- Common with uncountable nouns, as in a great deal of money, and it sounds less dramatic than vast quantity.
Opposites
Word family
- quantity noun
- an amount or number of something.
- quantities noun
- the plural form, used for several amounts.
- vastly adverb
- to a very great degree, as in vastly different.
- vastness noun
- the quality of being extremely large.
Commonly confused: vast quantity or vast amount? vast quantity or quality?
vast quantity vs vast amount
Very similar, but vast amount is used mainly with uncountable nouns, while vast quantity works with both countable and uncountable nouns.
vast quantity vs quality
A different word that sounds a little similar; quality means how good something is, not how much of it there is.
Practice
Which sentence uses "vast quantity" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"A vast quantity of" needs the article "a" and the preposition "of" before the noun, so option 0 is correct. Option 1 is missing "a", option 2 is missing "of", and option 3 is missing both "of" and the plural noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vast quantity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.