more or less

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(môr)

adj.Comparative of many much

a. Greater in number: a hall with more seats.

b. Greater in size, amount, extent, or degree: more land; more support.

2. Additional; extra: She needs some more time.

A greater or additional quantity, number, degree, or amount: The more I see of you the more I like you.

pron.

(used with a pl. verb) A greater or additional number of persons or things: I opened only two bottles but more were in the refrigerator.

adv.Comparative of much

a. To or in a greater extent or degree: loved him even more.

b. Used to form the comparative of many adjectives and adverbs: more difficult; more softly. See Usage Note at perfect.

2. In addition: phoned twice more.

3. Moreover; furthermore.

Idioms:

more and more

To a steadily increasing extent or degree: getting more and more worried.

more or less

1. About; approximately: holds two tons, more or less.

2. To an undetermined degree: were more or less in agreement.

[Middle English, from Old English māra and māre; see mē- in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: When a noun phrase contains more than one and a singular noun, the verb is normally singular: More than one editor is working on that project. More than one field has been planted with oats. When more than one is followed by of and a plural noun, the verb is plural: More than one of the paintings were stolen. More than one of the cottages are for sale. When more than one stands alone, it usually takes a singular verb, but it may take a plural verb if the notion of multiplicity predominates: The operating rooms are all in good order. More than one is (or are) equipped with the latest imaging technology. See Usage Notes at one, over.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adv.	1.	more or less - (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct; "lasted approximately an hour"; "in just about a minute"; "he's about 30 years old"; "I've had about all I can stand"; "we meet about once a month"; "some forty people came"; "weighs around a hundred pounds"; "roughly $3,000"; "holds 3 gallons, more or less"; "20 or so people were at the party" close to, just about, or so, roughly, some, about, approximately, around
	2.	more or less - to a small degree or extent; "his arguments were somewhat self-contradictory"; "the children argued because one slice of cake was slightly larger than the other" slightly, somewhat

Translations

تَقْريبا

víceménězhruba

mere eller mindre

mehr oder weniger

grosso-modo plus ou moins

nokkurn veginn, um òaî bil

all'incirca

daugiau ar mažiau

viac-menej

aşağı yukarı hemen hemen

或多或少

(moː) – comparative of many ~much – adjective

1. a greater number or quantity of. I've more pencils than he has.

2. an additional number or quantity of. We need some more milk.

adverb

1. used to form the comparative of many adjectives and adverbs, especially those of more than two syllables. She can do it more easily that I can; He is much more intelligent than they are.

2. to a greater degree or extent. I'm exercising a little more now than I used to.

3. again. We'll play it once more.

pronoun

1. a greater number or quantity. `Are there a lot of people?' `There are far more than we expected.'

2. an additional number or amount. We've run out of paint. Will you go and get some more?

moreˈover adverb

also; what is more important. I don't like the idea, and moreover, I think it's illegal.

any more

any longer; nowadays. He doesn't go any more, but he used to go twice a week.

more and more

increasingly. It's becoming more and more difficult to see.

more or less

approximately or almost. They've more or less finished the job; The distance is ten kilometres, more or less.

the more … the more/less

The more I see her, the more/less I like her.

what is / what's more

moreover. He came home after midnight, and what's more, he was drunk.

References in classic literature ?

A few works, however, more or less directly connected with the religious agitation, cannot be passed by.

View in context

Such ideas imply that a rational account of human beings will tend to eliminate individual differences, so that the good of the citizens can be calculated in a more or less Benthamite way, not least because--this, as we shall see, worries Hythlodaeus--the Utopians (tending to the utilitarianism of Epicurus) more or less identify the good with pleasure, though in some sense following Mill (and Epicurus) rather than Bentham in distinguishing pleasures qualitatively as well as, or even rather than, merely quantitatively.

From dreamland "humanism" to Christian political reality or from Nusquama to Utopia

Reading the book in bed that very night, on returning from the Station, I was amazed at the boldness of a sixteenth-century humanist who could invent such a dizzy ideal society, a no-place, presumably in the New World, where jewels and gold are demoted to the rank of children's toys and men and women are more or less equal; where hunting and gambling, major pleasures of the aristocracy, are ruled sordid pastimes and forbidden and people are content to pass their leisure time in music making and reading; a community in which justice and equality are the political ideals and kindness and generosity a way of life.