in droves
All at once
In droves means in large numbers, suggesting a steady stream or mass movement of people or animals.
Droves originally referred to herds being driven to market, and the phrase retains that sense of many moving together: Tourists arrived in droves, People are leaving the city in droves.
- multitudesVery large numbers
- hordesVery large crowds
- influxSudden large arrival
- migrationMovement to new territory
- massesBulk or populace
by the thousands · legions · throngs · wave · flood · exodus · stampede · bandwagon · herd mentality · heaps · flocks · torrent · swarms · deluge · tide · crowds · surge · congregation
in drovesone by one
In succession, separately
singly · individually · sparsely · scarcely · rarely
in drovessporadically
At irregular intervals
dribs and drabs · gradually · bit by bit · intermittently · here and there
drove, droves, drive, drives, driven, driver, drivers, driveway, overdrive