opulent means luxuriant, and ostentatiously magnificent. It carries an Arena rating of 1911, earned across 59 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, opulent ranks #98 of 42,749 for Qualifying, #1,104 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,838 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,085 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
opulent is pronounced /ˈɒpjʊlənt/.
Why “opulent” is a great word
Characterized by or exhibiting great wealth and luxury, often in a showy or lavish manner. From Latin opulentus (“wealthy, splendid”), from ops (“wealth, power, resources”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- or *h₃op- (“to work, produce in abundance”); first attested in English around 1600. Unlike “affluent,” which suggests a steady, substantial flow of wealth and comfort, or “sumptuous,” which primarily describes costly and luxurious things, opulent implies the deep-seated power and resource that makes such lavish display possible. It is the weight of velvet curtains that require their own staff, the gilt-framed mirrors reflecting a table groaning under silver, the hush of a marble hall thick with the scent of beeswax—wealth so assured it has become architecture, a testament to wealth’s capacity to reshape the very atmosphere.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin opulēns, opulentus, from ops (“wealth, power, resources”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃op- (“to work; produce in abundance”).
adj
- Luxuriant, and ostentatiously magnificent.e.g.“He saw himself, in a smart suit and a songkok, bowed into the opulent suites of Ritzes and Waldorfs and baring, under dark glasses, a hairy chest to a milder sun by a snakeless sea.” — 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 302:
- Rich, sumptuous and extravagant.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.