Sentence:  In doing so science has unquestionably cleared up widespread misconceptions , removed extraneous and illusory sources of fear , and dispelled <WSD>many</WSD> undesirable popular superstitions . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by `as' or `too' or `so' or `that'; amounting to a large but indefinite number