several
Pluralseverals
- 1Amounting to more than one (especially more than two) but not very many.
The store has been closed for several weeks now.
He owns several properties scattered across the county.
UsageTakes a plural noun and verb: several people are waiting. It also stands alone or with of: several of the members.
Similarsome
- 2Constituting a number of different ones; various.
The guide describes the several routes to the summit, from the gentle forest trail to the steep ridge.
The exhibit brings together the several styles of pottery that the region produced over three centuries.
UsageUsually after the or a possessive: the several routes, their several opinions. It sounds formal.
Similarvarious, different, diverse, sundry
Note
Here several means "different from one another," not "a handful." Dryden's "Four several armies" shows the difference. The numeral already gives the count, so several is free to stress that each army is distinct. Fielding's learned men give "the reasons of their several opinions," and the word works the same way after a possessive. The counting determiner could not follow four.
- 3Separate and distinct; particular to one rather than shared among many.
Each several ship a victory did gain.
1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of WondersSo one thing may be good and bad to several parties, upon diverse occasions.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of MelancholyNote
The sense closest to the word's origin: Anglo-Norman several, from Medieval Latin sēparālis, from Latin sēpar, "separate." It is kin to sever, not to severe. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar the will leaves money "to every several man," each man counted on his own, and Washington Irving can still write "a several beauty" in the nineteenth century. The meaning lingers after a possessive, as in they went their several ways.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Several derives through Anglo-Norman several and Medieval Latin sēparālis from Latin sēpar, meaning separate. en.wiktionary.org
- Several is related to sever but unrelated to severe. en.wiktionary.org
- Shakespeare's Julius Caesar contains the quoted wording about individual monetary bequests; Antony speaks the lines. gutenberg.org
- Washington Irving used the phrase a several beauty in the nineteenth century, in The Alhambra. gutenberg.org
Less common meanings
- 4A piece of land enclosed or held privately, as opposed to common land shared by others.
Note
It shares its root idea with the old "separate" adjective: a several is ground set apart from the common, whether by a wall or fence or by private title. The private-land use is obsolete and the wider "enclosure" use archaic, but either can still serve deliberately old-fashioned or historical writing, such as an account of a manor and its fields.
- 5A woman's loose outer garment that could be worn as a shawl or arranged in other forms.
- 6Capable of being dealt with separately; binding each party individually rather than as a single group.
- 7Separately, with each thing taken by itself rather than together with others.
Every kind of thing is laid up several in barns or storehouses.
1551, Thomas More, A Fruteful - 8A single particular considered by itself, such as an item, a detail, or an individual.
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Practice
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Origin
Latin sēpar ('separate') led to Medieval Latin sēparālis and then to Anglo-Norman several, the source of the English word. Despite the look, severe is not related.