more or less

See also: more-or-less

English

Adverb

more or less (not comparable)

1. approximately

   There are hundred people in the room, more or less.

   • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page 5

     The sporophyte foot is also characteristic: it is very broad and more or less lenticular or disciform, as broad or broader than the calyptra stalk […] , and is sessile on the calyptra base […]

2. almost

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

Alternative forms

• more-or-less

Translations

approximately

• Arabic: حَوَالِي‎‎ (ḥawālī)
• Asturian: más o menos
• Bulgarian: малко или много (malko ili mnogo)
• Catalan: més o menys, si fa no fa (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大約 (zh), 大约 (zh) (dàyuē), 左右 (zh) (zuǒyòu), 將近 (zh), 将近 (zh) (jiāngjìn), 大致 (zh) (dàzhì), 或多或少 (zh) (huòduōhuòshǎo), 大概 (zh) (dàgài)

• Danish: mere eller mindre
• Dutch: min of meer
• Esperanto: pli-malpli
• Finnish: enemmän tai vähemmän
• French: peu ou prou (fr), plus ou moins (fr)

  Middle French: poy plus poy moins

• Galician: máis ou menos
• German: mehr oder weniger, ungefähr (de)
• Greek: περισσότερο ή λιγότερο (perissótero í ligótero)
• Hebrew: פחות או יותר‎‎
• Hungarian: többé-kevésbé (hu)
• Icelandic: um það bil (is), nokkurn veginn, sirka
• Ido: plu o min

• Italian: più o meno (it), su per giù (it), approssimativamente (it)
• Japanese: およそ (ja) (oyoso), 約 (ja) (やく, yaku)
• Lithuanian: daugiau ar mažiau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mer eller mindre

  Nynorsk: meir eller mindre

• Occitan: mai o mens
• Polish: mniej więcej (pl)
• Portuguese: mais ou menos (pt)
• Romanian: mai mult sau mai puțin
• Russian: бо́лее и́ли ме́нее (ru) (bóleje íli méneje), бо́лее-ме́нее (ru) (bóleje-méneje)
• Serbo-Croatian: manje-više (sh)
• Spanish: más o menos (es)
• Swedish: ungefär (sv), mer eller mindre
• Tagalog: humigit-kumulang
• Telugu: ఎక్కువతక్కువగా (ekkuvatakkuvagā)
• Urdu: کم و بیش‎‎ (kam-o-besh)
• Yiddish: מער ווייניקער‎‎ (mer veyniker), מער אָדער ווייניקער‎‎ (mer oder veyniker)

almost

• Bulgarian: малко или много (malko ili mnogo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幾乎 (zh), 几乎 (zh) (jīhū), 差點 (zh), 差点 (zh) (chàdiǎn), 差一點 (zh), 差一点 (zh) (chāyīdiǎn), 差不多 (zh) (chàbuduō)

• Esperanto: pli aŭ malpli
• Finnish: lähes (fi), enemmän tai vähemmän
• French: plus ou moins (fr), presque (fr)
• Galician: case (gl)
• German: mehr oder weniger, fast (de)
• Icelandic: meira eða minna

• Italian: quasi (it)
• Japanese: ほとんど (ja) (hotondo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mer eller mindre

  Nynorsk: meir eller mindre

• Portuguese: quase (pt)
• Russian: бо́лее и́ли ме́нее (ru) (bóleje íli méneje), бо́лее-ме́нее (ru) (bóleje-méneje)
• Spanish: casi (es)
• Swedish: mer eller mindre