An effective-medium theory (EMT) is developed to predict the effective permittivity ε eff of dense random dispersions of high optical-conductivity metals such as Ag, Au, and Cu. Dependence of ε eff on the volume fraction ϕ, a microstructure parameter κ related to the static structure factor and particle radius a, is studied. In the electrostatic limit, the upper and lower bounds of κ correspond to Maxwell-Garnett and Bruggeman EMTs, respectively. Finite size effects are significant when jβ 2 ka∕n 3 j becomes O1, where β, k, and n denote the nanoparticle polarizability, wavenumber, and matrix refractive index, respectively. The coupling between the particle and effective medium results in a red-shift in the resonance peak, a nonlinear dependence of ε eff on ϕ, and Fano resonance in ε eff .