A LOT

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does a lot mean? 

• A LOT (adverb)
  The adverb A LOT has 1 sense:

1. to a very great degree or extent

  Familiarity information: A LOT used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• A LOT (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

To a very great degree or extent

Synonyms:

a good deal; a great deal; a lot; lots; much; very much

Context example:

this would help a great deal

 Context examples 

And the Tin Woodman saw that his terrible Beast was nothing but a lot of skins, sewn together, with slats to keep their sides out.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

If you feel you’ve been working hard without a lot of progress, now the floodgates will open, and you will be thrilled with how things unfold in the months ahead.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Chocolate can have a lot of calories, and the importance of a healthy weight is well known.

(Can Chocolate Really Be Good for You?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Once that problem was solved, the team found that the VS2-TiS2 electrodes could operate at a high specific capacity, or store a lot of charge per unit mass.

(Creating Better Lithium-Ion Batteries Made Possible with New Discovery, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Car engines produce a lot of heat and that heat is just waste.

(Harvesting Electrical Power from Waste Heat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The gross asymmetries of the outer dust field are telling us there are a lot of forces in play (beyond just host-star radiation pressure) that are moving the material around.

(Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A, NASA)

Although it might sound revolutionary, there is still a lot to do before this becomes reality.

(Will We Soon Drive on ‘Grassoline’?, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

I was not born for a different destiny to the rest of my species: to imagine such a lot befalling me is a fairy tale—a day-dream.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

For people exercising in the heat and losing a lot of minerals in sweat, sports drinks can be helpful.

(Dehydration, NIH)

They include: • A cough that produces a lot of mucus • Shortness of breath, especially with physical activity • Wheezing • Chest tightness

(COPD, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)