several
pronunciation
How to pronounce several in British English:
UK [ˈsevrəl]
How to pronounce several in American English:
US [ˈsevrəl]
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- Adjective:
- considered individually
- distinct and individual
- (used with count nouns) of an indefinite number more than 2 or 3 but not many
Word Origin
- several
- several: [15] Etymologically, several means ‘separate’. It comes via Anglo-Norman several from medieval Latin sēparālis, a derivative of Latin sēpar ‘separate’. This in turn was formed from sēparāre ‘separate’ (source of English separate), whose Vulgar Latin descendant *sēperāre passed into English via Anglo- Norman severer as sever [14]. Several’s original sense ‘separate, individual’ survives in legal terminology, but it has been superseded in the general language by ‘many’, which emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries via ‘different, various’.=> prepare, separate, sever
- several (adj.)
- early 15c., "existing apart," from Anglo-French several, from Middle French seperalis "separate," from Medieval Latin separalis, from Latin separ "separate, different," back-formation from separare "to separate" (see separate (v.)). Meaning "various, diverse, different" is attested from c. 1500; that of "more than one" is from 1530s, originally in legal use. Here we are all, by day; by night we're hurled By dreams, each one into a several world [Herrick, 1648] Related: Severalty. Jocular ordinal form severalth attested from 1902 in American English dialect (see -th (2)).
Example
- 1. On the list are several east asian countries , though not china .
- 2. Several renminbi-denominated hedging tools and investment products have also sprung up .
- 3. There are several overlapping structural problems .
- 4. Several things happened at once .
- 5. The explosion accident caused several fatalities .