several Add to list Share. Two is a “couple” and more than two or three is several. If you eat four donuts you can say you had several but you may have had too many — especially if you get a stomach-ache. Several is a word that shows size or number when you can’t be specific or when you want to summarize.

Adjective It took several days for the package to arrive. He arrived several hours ago. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘several.

adjective. being more than two but fewer than many in number or kind: several ways of doing it. respective; individual: They went their several ways. separate; different: several occasions.

Several can be used in the following ways: as a determiner (followed by a plural noun): Several buildings were damaged by the explosion. as an adjective (after a word such as ‘the’, ‘his’, or ‘these’, and followed by a noun): Ariel is one of his several nieces.

Several means that there are more than two or three but still not many. It has a similar definition to few, but the amounts are relative depending on the situation. It must be followed by a plural noun.

Usually, several means about 3 – 5. When you have less than that, it would be better to say one, two, or a couple.

By definition, several means three or more (but often less than many, which we will cover next.) So, if several party-goers out of a group of nine were intoxicated, several could correctly be translated as three or four.

A couple is generally around two, a few is more than that, but usually less than five, and several is around five or more, a number that can be severed into smaller groups.

Several, according to its dictionary definition means “more than two but not many”, so a few but not a couple.

1. a more than a few; an indefinite small number.

Several is used to refer to an imprecise number of people or things that is not large but is greater than two.

1. I had lived two doors away from this family for several years.
2. Several blue plastic boxes under the window were filled with record albums.
3. Several hundred students gathered on campus.

(sɛvrəl ) determiner. Several is used to refer to a number of people or things that is not large but is greater than two. I had lived two doors away from this family for several years.

Several comes from a word meaning “existing apart.” Before it came to mean “more than one” (about 1530), it was used with the meanings “separate, various, diverse, different.”

Because words that look and sound somewhat similar don’t have to be related. “Several” comes from the Latin “separ”, meaning separate and it originally meant existing apart or distinct things. “Seven” comes from the Old German “sebun”, meaning seven.

A small quantity, usually approximately equal to five, the number of fingers on a hand. This handful of men were tied to very hard duty.

If you say that someone, especially a child, is a handful, you mean that they are difficult to control. [informal] Zara can be a handful sometimes. Synonyms: nuisance, bother, pest, pain in the neck [informal] More Synonyms of handful.

: an amount that you can hold in your hand. : a small amount or number. informal : someone or something that is difficult to control.

noun, plural hand·fuls.

Old English handful “as much as can be held in the open hand;” see hand (n.) + -ful.

Potato Chips: A handful of chips equals 25 g and has about 137 cal.

To take a handfull (v): to take a amount of something about the size of your hand. “Cook a handful of french fries”, “I’ll take another handfull of chips, please.”