several Hear it!

several definition

sev·eral (sev′ər əl, sev′rəl)

adjective

  1. existing apart; separate; distinct; individual
  2. different; respective parted and went their several ways
  3. more than two but not many; of an indefinite but small number; few
  4. Chiefly Dial. quite a few; many
  5. Law of or having to do with an individual person; not shared or joint

Etymology: ME < Anglo-Fr < ML separalis < L separ, separate, back-form. < separare: see separate

plural noun

an indefinite but small number (of persons or things)

pronoun

several persons or things; a few

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

law several definition - legal

several Synonyms

several

modif.

  1. Few

    some, any, a few, quite a few, not many, sundry, two or three, a small number of, scarce, sparse, hardly any, scarcely any, half a dozen, only a few, scant, scanty, rare, infrequent, in a minority, a handful, not too many.

    Antonyms many*, large numbers of, none. *

  2. Various

    manifold, multiform, plural, a plurality, a number, not a few, numerous, diverse, a lot of, quite a lot of, a good deal; see also many, various.

  3. Distinct or separate

    certain, different, divers, definite, single, particular; see also individual 1.


several

n.

not too many, various ones, different ones, a minority, a small number, quite a number, quite a few, quite a variety; see also few.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

several Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • track: The album that followed became lost in the passing of time but is worth the purchase for several of the tracks.

Modifying Another Word

  • probably: Soon you'll see a huge rock face on your left hand, which are probably several hundred meters high and very long.

Modifies a noun

  • occasion: He said on several occasions " This place is really mad.

Used with adjective complement

  • include: A number of Caterham CSR 260s, including several from France, are expected to be making their seasonal debuts in the Masters.
several usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

Link to this page:

Cite this page:

MLA Style

"several." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/several>

APA Style

several. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/several

Comments:

Please or Register to post a comment