thick on the ground

English

Adjective

thick on the ground (comparative thicker on the ground, superlative thickest on the ground)

1. (UK) Existing, or present, in large numbers or amounts.

   Synonyms: common, widespread, abundant; ubiquitous

   Antonyms: thin on the ground, deficient, in short supply, wanting, lacking, uncommon, rare; see also Thesaurus:rare

   • 1962 March, J. M. Tolson, “The Netherlands Railways today—I: The economic development of the Netherlands Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 170:

     Although the Netherlands occupy only a seventh of the area of the United Kingdom, the population of 11.5 million is as thick on the ground as 890 people per square mile, whereas the comparable figure for the U.K. is 560 per square mile.

Related terms

• thick and fast
• thick and thin

References

• “be thick on the ground”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “be thick on the ground” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “thick on the ground”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.