Myriad vs Several - What's the difference?
myriad | several | Related terms |
A countless number or multitude (of specified things)
(modifying a singular noun) Multifaceted, having innumerable elements
* 1931 , William Faulkner, Sanctuary , Vintage 1993, p. 131:
* 2011' April 6–19, Kara Krekeler, "Researchers at Washington U. have 'itch' to cure problem", ''West End Word'', ' 40 (7), p. 8:
(modifying a plural noun) Great in number; innumerable, multitudinous
* 2013 September 28, , "
Separate, distinct; particular.
*, I.42:
*, II.i.4.2:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
, page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist)
, title= * Dryden
* Alexander Pope
A number of different; various. (Now merged into later senses, below)
* 1610 , , act 3 sc.1
*:.
* Francis Bacon
* Dryden
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. ,
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=14 * 2004 , The Guardian , 6 November:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= By itself; severally.
* Robynson (More's Utopia)
(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)
As nouns the difference between myriad and several
is that myriad is ten thousand; 10,000 while several is an area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land).As an adjective myriad
is multifaceted, having innumerable elements.As a determiner several is
separate, distinct; particular.As an adverb several is
by itself; severally.myriad
English
(wikipedia myriad)Noun
(en noun)- Earth hosts a myriad of animals.
Usage notes
Used as an adjective (see below), 'myriad' requires neither an article before it nor a preposition after. Because of this, some consider the usage described in sense 2 above, where 'myriad' acts as part of a nominal (or noun) group (that is, "a myriad of animals"), to be tautological.Adjective
(-)- one night he would be singing at the barred window and yelling down out of the soft myriad darkness of a May night; the next night he would be gone [...].
- "As a clinician, it's a difficult symptom to treat," Cornelius said. "The end symptom may be the same, but what's causing it may be myriad ."
- Earth hosts myriad animals.
London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
- Driven by a perceived political need to adopt a hard-line stance, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has imposed myriad new restrictions, the aim of which is to reduce net migration to Britain to below 100,000.
See also
* plethora ----several
English
Alternative forms
* severall (obsolete)Determiner
(en determiner)- He had a religion apart: a God severall unto himselfe, whom his subjects might no waies adore.
- So one thing may be good and bad to several parties, upon diverse occasions.
Ideas coming down the track, passage=A “moving platform” scheme
- Each several ship a victory did gain.
- Each might his several province well command, / Would all but stoop to what they understand.
- habits and faculties, several , and to be distinguished
- Four several armies to the field are led.
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.
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.}}
- Several people were killed and around 150 injured after a high-speed train hit a car on a level crossing and derailed tonight.
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 * severallySee also
* severAdverb
(-)- Every kind of thing is laid up several in barns or storehouses.