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Multitude vs Several - What's the difference?

multitude | several |

As nouns the difference between multitude and several

is that multitude is a great amount or number, often of people; myriad; profusion; abundance while several is (obsolete) an area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land).

As a determiner several is

separate, distinct; particular.

As an adverb several is

by itself; severally.

multitude

Noun

(en noun)
  • A great amount or number, often of people; myriad; profusion; abundance.
  • * , Episode 12, The Cyclops
  • A torrential rain poured down from the floodgates of the angry heavens upon the bared heads of the assembled multitude which numbered at the lowest computation five hundred thousand persons.
  • *
  • The mass of ordinary people; the populous or the masses
  • * Pilate, wishing to please the multitude , released Barabbas to them.
  • Synonyms

    * hantel/hantle

    Derived terms

    * multitudinous

    several

    English

    Alternative forms

    * severall (obsolete)

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • Separate, distinct; particular.
  • *, I.42:
  • He had a religion apart: a God severall unto himselfe, whom his subjects might no waies adore.
  • *, II.i.4.2:
  • So one thing may be good and bad to several parties, upon diverse occasions.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • * Dryden
  • Each several ship a victory did gain.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Each might his several province well command, / Would all but stoop to what they understand.
  • A number of different; various. (Now merged into later senses, below)
  • * 1610 , , act 3 sc.1
  • *:.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • habits and faculties, several , and to be distinguished
  • * Dryden
  • Four several armies to the field are led.
  • Consisting of a number more than two or three but not very many; diverse.
  • * 1784 , William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. , preface:
  • The favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others ; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
  • * 2004 , The Guardian , 6 November:
  • Several people were killed and around 150 injured after a high-speed train hit a car on a level crossing and derailed tonight.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}

    Derived terms

    * several states * severally

    See also

    * sever

    Adverb

    (-)
  • By itself; severally.
  • * Robynson (More's Utopia)
  • Every kind of thing is laid up several in barns or storehouses.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land).
  • Each particular taken singly; an item; a detail; an individual. (rfex)
  • (archaic) An enclosed or separate place; enclosure. (rfex)
  • Statistics

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