more
Pluralmores
- 1Comparative of many and much, a greater number of things or a greater amount of something ('more ways than I can count', 'more time than we need').
She has read more books than anyone in the class.
There are more cars on the road every year.
UsageStrengthen with many before plurals and much before mass nouns: many more books, much more time (not
incorrect: much more books).Note
With a plural noun it counts (more ways, more lives), and with a mass noun (more money, more time) it measures. For smaller numbers and amounts English splits the job, pairing fewer with plurals and less with mass nouns, while this word never needs to change.
- 2Used before adjectives and adverbs to form the comparative, always with those that do not take -er and as an option with some that do, with than introducing the standard.
This route is more direct than the motorway.
She spoke more clearly the second time.
UsageUse -er or more, not both: more direct, easier (not
incorrect: more easier). Strengthen it with much more, far more.Oppositeless
Note
English builds comparatives two ways: with the ending -er, or with this separate word, as in more beautiful, more eager and more settled. Words that cannot take -er always need it, some that can take -er allow either, and than introduces what is compared. Using both at once is the double comparative.
- 3A greater or additional number or amount of something understood from the context.
Two chapters are done and more are on the way.
There is bread on the table and more in the oven.
UsageThe verb follows the unspoken noun: more are on the way (chapters), more is in the oven (bread).
Note
Here the extra is new, not larger: more should be arriving soon means further people on top of those already there. The pronoun stands in for a noun the context has already supplied, so bread on the table and more in the oven means more bread.
- 4Additional or further; simply extra, not compared with anything.
Would you like more tea?
We hired two more staff for the summer.
UsageA number goes before it: two more days, one more chance (not
incorrect: more two days).Note
Here nothing is being compared: more soup is a further helping, not a bigger one than somebody else's. A quick test separates it from the comparative of many. If no than could follow, the word means extra. It works with plurals and mass nouns alike, as in more bandages and more time, and its stand-alone partner is the pronoun of addition.
- 5To a higher degree or in greater measure.
He worries more than he needs to.
The kids miss their grandmother more than they let on.
UsageGoes after the verb or its object: worries more, like chocolate more than cake.
Oppositeless
Note
Here the word compares actions and states rather than amounts, as in I like chocolate more. Two patterns are worth knowing. No more … than denies both halves at once, so I could no more climb that than fly means climbing is as impossible as flying. Placed before a verb, more than means beyond what was required, as in more than carried out my obligation.
- 6In addition, whether as a repetition or as further time, as in once more or two minutes more.
She knocked once more, but nobody came to the door.
If the talks drag on a week more, the strike will begin.
UsageGoes after the amount, once more, a week more, or before the noun with the same meaning: one more week.
Note
Once more is the stock phrase for again, often with a sense of persistence or of a last attempt, as with a knock that goes unanswered.
- 7Bigger, stronger or more valuable than a description allows ('he is more than the ten years he spent behind bars; his past does not define him').
A school is more than its exam results.
She is more than a pretty face.
UsageMostly more than + a label someone rejects as incomplete: more than a pretty face.
Note
Worth is being judged here, not size. To say he is more than the ten years he spent behind bars is to say those years do not sum the man up. The construction pairs more than with a label the speaker refuses to accept as complete, and it belongs to defense, praise and reassurance rather than to measurement.
Less common meanings
- 8Adjective, comparative of many: greater in number, after 'be' ('applications received were more than each of the previous four years').
The people who turned up were more than we had chairs for.
By noon the visitors were more than the staff could handle.
UsageCorrect but stiff; it often reads better with the noun after the verb: there were more applications.
Note
After be, the comparison of number becomes a predicate: last year's applications were more than each of the previous four years. When a noun follows directly, the same comparison is the counting determiner.
- 9Any further or any longer, used after a negative such as no or never.
They met no more after that winter. (poetic)
Speak of it no more. (poetic)
UsageEveryday English says not any more or no longer; no more closing the clause sounds elevated.
Note
Here the adverb counts time rather than quantity. When Malory writes that the earl 'sholde never warre agaynste hym more', he means never again. What was ordinary narrative prose in the late fifteenth century now sounds poetic, and everyday English puts any more or any longer in that slot.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Malory uses the quoted wording about the earl in Le Morte Darthur, book XV, chapter II. en.wiktionary.org
- More has a temporal meaning here, making never ... more equivalent to never again. en.wiktionary.org
- The quotation belongs to fifteenth-century prose, rather than to the nineteenth-century reprint cited by Wiktionary. en.wikipedia.org
- 10Added to a comparative that is already inflected, forming a double comparative; now humorous or proscribed.
The new road is more quicker. (nonstandard)
He said the cake was more tastier than the pie. (nonstandard)
UsageSay better or quicker (not
incorrect: more better). - 11SayMOR-ayUS/ˈmoɹeɪ/UK/ˈmɔːɹeɪ/Nonstandard singular of mores: a single social custom or moral rule ('smoking has become a more of bad manners').
In a seeming paradox, however, broken taboos may not always carry the heavy repercussions of violations of a social more.
2008, Barak A. Salmoni, Paula Holmes-EberA value is a social more or norm manifested as a result of history and culture. It is a shared understanding among people of what is good, desirable or just.
2004, Robert S. Pomeroy, John E. ParksUsageMostly in a social more; in careful writing a custom, a norm or a convention is safer.
Note
Back-formation produced this singular: writers who need just one of the mores clip the plural to more. Mores names the customs and moral rules of a group, so the singular means one such rule, as in calling smoking a more of bad manners. It is rare and nonstandard.
- 12A root or stock, as of a tree or other plant.
Note
Dialect speech kept the old vegetable word and widened it from a carrot's taproot to any root or stock. It also gave rise to the verb "to root up", which was made from the noun. In regional writing, read it as a plant word: a tree torn out by the more has lost its root, not anything extra.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The old vegetable word survived regionally with the broader meaning of a root. darwin-online.org.uk
- The verb more, meaning to root up, derives from the noun. en.wiktionary.org
- 13A plant, flower or shrub.
Similarplant
Note
Dialect carried the word one step further, from the root to the whole growing plant, so it can name a flower or a shrub. The sense is regional rather than general English. In context it is always a noun for something growing, never the comparative that shares its spelling.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The dialect plant sense derives from the older noun meaning a root; this semantic extension is supported by their shared etymology. en.wiktionary.org
- 14To root up, to pull out by the roots ('more the thistles'), from the dialect noun for a root (meaning 12).
Oppositeplant
Note
A verb was made from the dialect noun for a root, and it takes an object: you more thistles or brambles. Its forms are regular (mores, moring, mored). As a result, its third-person singular looks exactly like the plural of the plant noun, and like the word for social customs. Only context keeps them apart.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The verb meaning to uproot derives from the noun meaning a root. en.wiktionary.org
- 15A carrot or a parsnip.
Note
A different word happens to share the spelling here. It comes from Old English more, moru, "carrot, parsnip", from an Indo-European root for an edible herb or tuber, and it has nothing to do with the comparative. The vegetable meaning is obsolete, but the broader sense lives on in dialect as the word for a root.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The vegetable noun is a separate word, etymologically unrelated to comparative more. en.wiktionary.org
- The vegetable noun descends from Old English more and moru, meaning carrot or parsnip. en.wiktionary.org
- Its reconstructed Indo-European root means edible herb or tuber. en.wiktionary.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English more, from Old English māra ("more"), which goes back through Proto-Germanic *maizô to a Proto-Indo-European root. It is related to Dutch meer, German mehr, and Swedish mera, all meaning "more."
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English more derives from Middle English more and Old English māra, meaning more. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English māra ultimately derives from Proto-Germanic *maizô. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch meer, German mehr and Swedish mera are cognates meaning more. en.wiktionary.org
From Middle English more ("root"), from Old English more, moru ("carrot, parsnip"), from Proto-Germanic *murhǭ ("carrot"), perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *merk- ("edible herb, tuber") or an old European loanword. It is related to Old High German morha ("root") and German Möhre ("carrot").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- The noun descends from Middle English more, meaning “root,” and Old English more and moru, meaning “carrot, parsnip.” en.wiktionary.org
- Its Germanic ancestry includes reconstructed Proto-Germanic *murhǭ, meaning “carrot.” en.wiktionary.org
- A proposed deeper origin is Proto-Indo-European *merk-, meaning “edible herb, tuber.” en.wiktionary.org
- An alternative proposal treats the Germanic word as an old European loanword. en.wiktionary.org
- The word is related to Old High German morha, glossed as “root.” en.wiktionary.org
- German Möhre means “carrot” and is cognate with the English noun. en.wiktionary.org
From Middle English moren, formed from the noun more ("root").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The verb more derives from Middle English moren. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English moren was formed from the noun more. en.wiktionary.org
- The noun more meant root. en.wiktionary.org
A back-formation from mores.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The noun more is a back-formation from mores. en.wiktionary.org