Several vs Most - What's the difference?
several | most |
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)
Superlative form of much.
Superlative form of many.
:
*
*:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=20 *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author=
, volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Superlative form of much.
:
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=
:
*, chapter=7
, title= *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 To a great extent or degree; highly; very.
:
*1895 , , (The Time Machine) Chapter X
*:Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.
(uncountable) The greatest amount.
(countable) A record-setting amount.
As nouns the difference between several and most
is that several is (obsolete) an area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land) while most is bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide).As a determiner several
is separate, distinct; particular.As an adverb several
is by itself; severally.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.
Noun
(en noun)Statistics
*most
English
Determiner
(en determiner)- Most people like chocolate.
- Most simply choose to ignore it.
- Most want the best for their children.
Synonyms
* almost allAdverb
(-)citation, passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
John Vidal
Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas, passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.}}
Boundary problems, passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most -used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the' poorest and ' most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
citation, passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes
Antonyms
* fewest * leastDerived terms
* -most * make the most of * mostly * foremostNoun
(en-noun)- The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.