Seldom vs Several - What's the difference?
seldom | several |
Infrequently, rarely.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8
, passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.}}
*{{quote-news, year=2013, date=April 9, author=Andrei Lankov, title=Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff., work=New York Times
, passage=People who talk about an imminent possibility of war seldom pose this question: What would North Korea’s leadership get from unleashing a war that they are likely to lose in weeks, if not days?}}
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (obsolete) rare; infrequent
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)
In obsolete terms the difference between seldom and several
is that seldom is rare; infrequent while several is an area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land).As an adjective seldom
is rare; infrequent.As a determiner several is
separate, distinct; particular.As a noun several is
an area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land).seldom
English
Adverb
(en adverb)citation
End of the peer show, passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
Usage notes
It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never. * Compare He seldom ever plays tennis.'' with ''He almost never plays tennis.Synonyms
* barely * hardly * rarely * scarcely * infrequentlyAntonyms
* often * frequentlyAdjective
(en adjective)- A suppressed and seldom anger. — Jeremy Taylor.
Anagrams
* English frequency adverbsseveral
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.
