Phrase guide

more or less

adv · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /mɔɹ ɔɹ lɛs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adv

Meaning 1

Approximately.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • There were a hundred people in the room, more or less.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: -ish, about, all but, almost, approaching, around, by and large, circa, close, close to, essentially, for all practical purposes, fornigh, give or take, imprecisely, just about, kind of, loosely, more or less, nearly, near, nearabout, nigh on, odd, or so, plus or minus, roundly, roughly, say, some, -some, sort of, thereabout, virtually, well-nigh, ±

Antonyms: none provided

2

adv

Meaning 2

Almost.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • I've more or less guaranteed myself a top mark in my final exams.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all but, almost, as good as, as near as makes no difference, close to, fornigh, just about, more or less, near, near as damn it, nearly, next to, nigh, nigh on, nighwhat, not quite, practically, pretty much, tantamount to, well-nigh, virtually

Antonyms: none provided

3

adv

Meaning 3

To varying extents, across instances; to an extent that varies among cases.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • [X] is always more or less of a [Y]
  • Entrepreneurship is always more or less of a gamble.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adverb

Meaning 4

(of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • 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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: approximately, about, close to, just about, some, roughly, around, or so

Antonyms: none provided

5

adverb

Meaning 5

to a small degree or extent

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his arguments were somewhat self-contradictory
  • the children argued because one slice of cake was slightly larger than the other

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: slightly, somewhat

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

106 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: pak a shumë — approximately
  • Arabic: حَوَالِي (ḥawālī) — approximately
  • Asturian: más o menos — approximately
  • Bulgarian: малко или много (malko ili mnogo) — approximately
  • Catalan: més o menys — approximately
  • Catalan: si fa no fa — approximately
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大約 /大约 (dàyuē) — approximately
  • Chinese Mandarin: 左右 (zuǒyòu) — approximately
  • Chinese Mandarin: 上下 (shàngxià) — approximately
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大致 (dàzhì) — approximately
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大概 (dàgài) — approximately
  • Czech: víceméně — approximately
  • Danish: mere eller mindre — approximately
  • Dutch: min of meer — approximately
  • Esperanto: pli-malpli — approximately
  • Finnish: enemmän tai vähemmän — approximately
  • French: peu ou prou — approximately
  • French: plus ou moins — approximately
  • Middle French: poy plus poy moins — approximately
  • Galician: máis ou menos — approximately
  • Georgian: ასე თუ ისე (ase tu ise) — approximately
  • German: mehr oder weniger — approximately
  • German: ungefähr — approximately
  • German: mehr oder minder — approximately
  • Greek: περισσότερο ή λιγότερο (perissótero í ligótero) — approximately
  • Greek: πάνω κάτω (páno káto) — approximately
  • Hebrew: פחות או יותר — approximately
  • Hungarian: többé-kevésbé — approximately
  • Icelandic: um það bil — approximately
  • Icelandic: nokkurn veginn — approximately
  • Icelandic: sirka — approximately
  • Ido: plu o min — approximately
  • Indonesian: kurang lebih — approximately
  • Ingrian: enemmän tali vähemmän — approximately
  • Italian: più o meno — approximately
  • Italian: su per giù — approximately
  • Italian: approssimativamente — approximately
  • Japanese: およそ (oyoso) — approximately
  • Japanese: 約 (yaku) — approximately
  • Latin: plūs minus (ve) — approximately
  • Latin: magis minus (ve) — approximately
  • Latin: amplius minus (ve) — approximately
  • Lithuanian: daugiau ar mažiau — approximately
  • Malay: lebih kurang — approximately
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mer eller mindre — approximately
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: meir eller mindre — approximately
  • Occitan: mai o mens — approximately
  • Polish: mniej więcej — approximately
  • Polish: z grubsza — approximately
  • Portuguese: mais ou menos — approximately
  • Romanian: mai mult sau mai puțin — approximately
  • Russian: бо́лее и́ли ме́нее (bóleje íli méneje) — approximately
  • Russian: бо́лее-ме́нее (bóleje-méneje) — approximately
  • Serbo-Croatian: manje-više — approximately
  • Sicilian: ḍḍà ca ḍḍà — approximately
  • Slovak: viac-menej — approximately
  • Spanish: más o menos — approximately
  • Spanish: poco más o menos — approximately
  • Spanish: sobre poco más o menos — approximately
  • Swedish: mer eller mindre — approximately
  • Tagalog: humigit-kumulang — approximately
  • Tamil: ஏறத்தாழ (ēṟattāḻa) — approximately
  • Telugu: ఎక్కువతక్కువగా (ekkuvatakkuvagā) — approximately
  • Turkish: aşağı yukarı — approximately
  • Ukrainian: бі́льш-ме́нш (bílʹš-ménš) — approximately
  • Urdu: کم و بیش (kam-o-besh) — approximately
  • Welsh: mwy neu lai — approximately
  • Yiddish: מער ווייניקער (mer veyniker) — approximately
  • Yiddish: מער אָדער ווייניקער (mer oder veyniker) — approximately
  • Albanian: pak a shumë — almost
  • Bulgarian: малко или много (malko ili mnogo) — almost
  • Chinese Mandarin: 幾乎 /几乎 (jīhū) — almost
  • Chinese Mandarin: 差點 /差点 (chàdiǎn) — almost
  • Chinese Mandarin: 差一點 /差一点 (chāyīdiǎn) — almost
  • Chinese Mandarin: 差不多 (chàbuduō) — almost
  • Danish: mere eller mindre — almost
  • Danish: næsten — almost
  • Esperanto: pli aŭ malpli — almost
  • Finnish: lähes — almost
  • Finnish: enemmän tai vähemmän — almost
  • French: plus ou moins — almost
  • French: presque — almost
  • Galician: case — almost
  • Georgian: ასე თუ ისე (ase tu ise) — almost
  • German: mehr oder weniger — almost
  • German: fast — almost
  • Greek: σχεδόν (schedón) — almost
  • Hungarian: félig-meddig — almost
  • Icelandic: meira eða minna — almost
  • Italian: quasi — almost
  • Japanese: ほとんど (hotondo) — almost
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mer eller mindre — almost
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: meir eller mindre — almost
  • Polish: prawie — almost
  • Polish: prawie że — almost
  • Portuguese: quase — almost
  • Russian: бо́лее и́ли ме́нее (bóleje íli méneje) — almost
  • Russian: бо́лее-ме́нее (bóleje-méneje) — almost
  • Swedish: mer eller mindre — almost
  • Chinese Mandarin: 或多或少 (huòduōhuòshǎo) — to varying extents
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多少 (duōshǎo) — to varying extents
  • Finnish: jossain määrin — to varying extents
  • Japanese: 多かれ少なかれ (ōkaresukunakare) — to varying extents
  • Korean: 많거나 적거나 (mankeona jeokgeona) — to varying extents
  • Polish: mniej lub bardziej — to varying extents
  • Polish: mniej lub więcej — to varying extents