Lot — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

noun verb /ˈlät/

Meaning & Definition of Lot

Lot (noun)

  1. an object used as a counter in determining a question by chance
  2. the use of lots as a means of deciding something
  3. the resulting choice
  4. a nephew of Abraham who according to the account in Genesis escaped from the doomed city of Sodom with his wife who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back

Lot (verb)

  1. allot, apportion
  2. to form or divide into lots

Lot (noun) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. a small piece of land that is developed or available for development

    "the softball team often plays in the vacant lot down at the end of the street"

    similar: parcel, plat, plot, property, tract
    related: patch, frontage, lease, development, real estate

  2. a considerable amount

    "you'll need to do a lot of studying for the test"

    "you sure bought a lot of clothing"

    similar: abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (chiefly British), loads, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, sheaf, shipload, sight, slew, spate, stack, store, ton, truckload, volume, wad, wealth, yard, all kinds (of), quite a bit
    related: epidemic, plague, rash, bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, deluge, flood, overflow, army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng, gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion
    opposite: ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen, speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace
    near: atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit, smatter, smattering, dash, drop, morsel, shot, piece, portion, section, absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want, deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness

  3. a small area of usually open land

    "there were still plenty of Christmas trees available for sale in the lot"

    similar: clearing, field, ground, parcel, plat, plot, tract
    related: common(s), croft (chiefly British), grass, green, greensward, lawn, glade, grassland, heath, heathland, lea, meadow, moor, pasture, pastureland

  4. a number of things considered as a unit

    "the auctioneer next introduced a lot containing several pieces of fine china"

    similar: array, assemblage, band, bank, batch, battery, block, bunch, clot, clump, cluster, clutch, collection, constellation, group, grouping, huddle, knot, muster, package, parcel, passel, set, suite, the whole kit and caboodle
    related: accumulation, aggregate, aggregation, conglomeration, agglomeration, assortment, hodgepodge, jumble, miscellany, mixture, odds and ends, sundries, variety, cycle, run, series, suit
    near: entity, item, single, unit

  5. a state or end that seemingly has been decided beforehand

    "will it always be my lot to be picked last in gym class?"

    similar: circumstance, destiny, doom, fate, fortune, kismet, portion
    related: accident, casualty (archaic), chance, hap, happenchance, happenstance, hazard, luck, predestination, aftereffect, aftermath, conclusion, consequence, development, effect, fruit, issue, outcome, outgrowth, result, resultant, sequel, sequence, upshot

  6. a group of people sharing a common interest and relating together socially

    "you should stop hanging out with that lot, or you'll end up in trouble"

    similar: body, bunch, circle, clan, clique, community, coterie, coven, crowd, fold, galère, gang, klatch, network, pack, ring, set
    related: charmed circle, elite, in-group, closed shop, club, college, fellowship, guild, league, organization, society, camp, faction, sect, side, tribe, mess, squad, brotherhood, fraternity, order, sisterhood, sodality, sorority, commune, alliance, bloc, coalition, confederation, congress, council, federation, union
    near: loner, individualist

  7. a usually small number of persons considered as a unit

    "the school has a very strong science department, because there's not one bad teacher in the lot"

    similar: array, band, batch, battery, body, boodle, bunch, cluster, clutch, consort, constellation, crop, group, grouping, huddle, knot, parcel, party, passel, the whole kit and caboodle
    related: assembly, collective, congregation, gathering, muster, organization, circle, clan, clique, coterie, fellowship, gang, ring, round, set, faction, guild, order, school, sect, brigade, crew, outfit, phalanx, platoon, posse, task force, team, alliance, bloc, coalition, confederacy, confederation, federation, league, union, battalion, squadron, bevy, brood, covey
    near: individual, single

Lot (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

  1. to give as a share or portion

    "everyone is lotted opportunities in life, and it's their responsibility to take them"

    similar: allocate, allot, allow, apportion, assign, distribute, ration
    related: admeasure, administer, deal, dispense, divide, dole out, hand out, measure, mete (out), meter, parcel (out), part, portion, prorate, share (out), split, accord, award, give, grant, earmark, reserve, chip in, contribute, donate, reallocate, reapportion, reassign, redistribute
    near: begrudge, deny, deprive (of), keep, retain, stint, withhold, appropriate, arrogate, confiscate

Related Entry: A lot (phrase)

A lot is a different word from Lot. The synonyms below are for a lot, not for lot.

  1. to a large extent or degree

    "That bruise looks a lot better than it did the other day."

    similar: astronomically, big-time, broadly, colossally, considerably, enormously, extensively, greatly, highly, hugely, largely, massively, monstrously, monumentally, much, sizably, staggeringly, stupendously, tremendously, utterly, vastly, by half, no end
    related: appreciably, noticeably, significantly, abundantly, amply, copiously, healthily, plentifully
    opposite: little, negligibly, nominally, slightly
    near: modestly, fractionally, imperceptibly, infinitesimally, insignificantly, invisibly, microscopically, minutely, barely, hardly, just, minimally, scarcely

  2. many times

    "She goes snowshoeing a lot during the winter."

    similar: again and again, constantly, continually, frequently, hourly, much, oft, often, oftentimes, over and over, repeatedly, time after time, time and again
    related: always, consistently, continuingly, continuously, night and day, perpetually, unceasingly, uninterruptedly, afresh, again, anew, commonly, habitually, ordinarily, regularly, routinely, intermittently, periodically, recurrently, generally, usually
    opposite: infrequently, little, rarely, seldom
    near: now, now and then, occasionally, sometimes, sporadically, ne'er, never, once

  3. to a great degree

    "He respects you a lot."

    similar: achingly, almighty, archly, awful, awfully, badly, beastly, blisteringly, bone, colossally, corking, cracking, damn, damned, dang, deadly, desperately, eminently, enormously, especially, ever, exceedingly, extra, extremely, fabulously, fantastically, far, fiercely, filthy, frightfully, full, greatly, heavily, highly, hugely, immensely, incredibly, intensely, jolly, majorly, mightily, mighty, monstrous (chiefly dialect), mortally, most, much, particularly, passing, rattling, real, really, right, roaring, roaringly, seriously, severely, so, sore, sorely, spanking, specially, stinking, such, super, supremely, surpassingly, terribly, that, thumping, too, unco, uncommonly, vastly, very, vitally, way, whacking, wicked, wildly, as all get-out, good and
    related: absolutely, altogether, completely, downright, entirely, flat-out, fully, positively, purely, radically, thoroughly, totally, utterly, wholly, deeply, profoundly, exceptionally, notably, remarkably, considerably, extensively, significantly, substantially, appreciably, discernibly, markedly, noticeably, obviously, palpably, plainly, visibly, abundantly, plentifully, astronomically, grandly, monstrously, monumentally, excessively, obscenely, overmuch, amazingly, astonishingly, staggeringly
    opposite: little, negligibly, nominally, slightly, somewhat
    near: meagerly, scantily, barely, hardly, just, marginally, minimally, scarcely

Related Entry: Job lot (noun)

Job lot is a different word from Lot. The synonyms below are for job lot, not for lot.

  1. as in hard goods, stuff

    similar: inventory, staples, stock, stuff, supply, commodity, goods, merchandise, wares, domestics, durables, hard goods, export, import, line

Synonyms, Thesaurus & Another Word for Lot

The most common words with a similar meaning to Lot:

Chiefly British: lashings
parcel, plat, plot, property, tract, abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, loads, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful

Antonyms & Opposite Words for Lot

Words with the opposite meaning of Lot:

ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen, speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste

Related Words for Lot

patch, frontage, lease, development, real estate, epidemic, plague, rash, bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, deluge, flood, overflow, army, bevy, cram, crush, drove

Near Antonyms of Lot

atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit, smatter, smattering, dash, drop, morsel, shot, piece, portion, section

Word Forms of Lot

Inflections: lots, lotted, lotting

Origin & Etymology of Lot

Middle English lot, lott "object used to decide a matter by chance, decision by the use of such objects, what one receives through such a decision, destiny, share," going back to Old English hlot, going back to Germanic *hluta- (whence also Old Frisian hlot, lot "lot," Old High German hluz, Old Norse hlutr), noun derivative from a verb *hleutan- "to cast lots" (whence Old English hlēotan "to cast lots, obtain, gain as one's lot," Old Saxon hliotan "to obtain," Old High German liozan "to cast lots," Old Norse hjlóta "to get by lot, obtain, undergo"), of uncertain origin

First known use: before 12th century

Vocabulary Lists & Topics for Lot

Words & Phrases Containing Lot

all over the lot, a lot, barn lot, cast one's lot with, cell phone lot, job lot

Frequently Asked Questions about Lot

What does "Lot" mean?

"Lot" means an object used as a counter in determining a question by chance. As an a noun and a verb, it is defined as: an object used as a counter in determining a question by chance. It has 8 distinct senses.

What is another word for "Lot"?

Other words for "Lot" include parcel, plat, plot, property, tract, abundance, barrel and basketful. The best synonym depends on which meaning of "Lot" you intend.

What are different ways to say "Lot"?

There are 300 words and phrases with a similar meaning to "Lot". Common alternatives include parcel, plat, plot, property, tract, abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload and bucket.

What is the opposite of "Lot"?

Antonyms of "Lot" include ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful and hint. Near antonyms include atom, crumb, dot and fleck.

How do you use "Lot" in a sentence?

Examples of "Lot" in a sentence: "the softball team often plays in the vacant lot down at the end of the street"; "you'll need to do a lot of studying for the test"; "you sure bought a lot of clothing".

Is "Lot" a noun, verb, or adjective?

"Lot" can be used as a noun and a verb, depending on the context.

Is "Lot" useful for IELTS, TOEFL, and other English exams?

As an A1-level word, "Lot" is typical of Cambridge A1 Movers (Young Learners), TOEIC Listening & Reading 120+.

How do you pronounce "Lot"?

"Lot" is pronounced /ˈlät/.