Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - more

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Note: 'More' is often considered to be the comparative form of 'much' and 'many'. 1. You use more to indicate that there is a greater amount of something than before or than average, or than something else. You can use ‘a little’, ‘a lot’, ‘a bit’, ‘far’, and ‘much’ in front of more. More and more people are surviving heart attacks... He spent more time perfecting his dance moves instead of gym work. ...teaching more children foreign languages other than English... ? less DET: DET pl-n/n-uncount • More is also a pronoun. As the level of work increased from light to heavy, workers ate more... He had four hundred dollars in his pocket. Billy had more. PRON • More is also a quantifier. Employees may face increasing pressure to take on more of their own medical costs in retirement... QUANT: QUANT of def-n 2. You use more than before a number or amount to say that the actual number or amount is even greater. The Afghan authorities say the airport had been closed for more than a year. ...classy leather and silk jackets at more than ?250. = over PREP-PHRASE: PREP amount 3. You use more to indicate that something or someone has a greater amount of a quality than they used to or than is average or usual. Prison conditions have become more brutal... We can satisfy our basic wants more easily than in the past. ? less ADV: ADV adj/adv 4. If you say that something is more one thing than another, you mean that it is like the first thing rather than the second. The exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is more a production than it is a museum display... He’s more like a film star than a life-guard, really... She looked more sad than in pain... Sue screamed, not loudly, more in surprise than terror... She’s more of a social animal than me. ? less ADV: ADV group than group/cl, ADV of a n 5. If you do something more than before or more than someone else, you do it to a greater extent or more often. When we are tired, tense, depressed or unwell, we feel pain much more... What impressed me more was that she knew Tennessee Williams. ? less ADV: ADV with v 6. You can use more to indicate that something continues to happen for a further period of time. Things might have been different if I’d talked a bit more. ADV: ADV after v • You can use some more to indicate that something continues to happen for a further period of time. We walked some more. PHRASE: PHR after v 7. You use more to indicate that something is repeated. For example, if you do something ‘once more’, you do it again once. This train would stop twice more in the suburbs before rolling southeast toward Munich... The breathing exercises should be repeated several times more. ADV: adv ADV, n ADV 8. You use more to refer to an additional thing or amount. You can use ‘a little’, ‘a lot’, ‘a bit’, ‘far’ and ‘much’ in front of more. They needed more time to consider whether to hold an inquiry. DET: DET pl-n/n-uncount • More is also an adjective. We stayed in Danville two more days... Are you sure you wouldn’t like some more wine? ADJ: ADJ n • More is also a pronoun. Oxfam has appealed to western nations to do more to help the refugees... ‘None of them are very nice folks.’—‘Tell me more.’ PRON 9. You use more in conversations when you want to draw someone’s attention to something interesting or important that you are about to say. Europe’s economies have converged in several areas. More interestingly, there has been convergence in economic growth rates... More seriously for him, there are members who say he is wrong on this issue. ? less ADV: ADV adv/adj 10. You can use more and more to indicate that something is becoming greater in amount, extent, or degree all the time. Her life was heading more and more where she wanted it to go... PHRASE: usu PHR with v, PHR group/cl 11. If something is more or less true, it is true in a general way, but is not completely true. The Conference is more or less over... He more or less started the firm... PHRASE: PHR with group/cl, PHR before v c darkgreen]vagueness 12. If something is more than a particular thing, it has greater value or importance than this thing. He’s more than a coach, he’s a friend. PHRASE: v-link PHR n 13. You use more than to say that something is true to a greater degree than is necessary or than average. Lithuania produces more than enough food to feed itself. PHRASE: PHR n, PHR adj 14. You use no more than or not more than when you want to emphasize how small a number or amount is. He was a kid really, not more than eighteen or nineteen. ? no less than PHRASE: PHR amount c darkgreen]emphasis 15. If you say that someone or something is nothing more than a particular thing, you are emphasizing that they are only that thing, and nothing more interesting or important. The newly discovered notes are nothing more than Lang’s personal journal. PHRASE: v-link PHR n c darkgreen]emphasis 16. You can use what is more or what’s more to introduce an extra piece of information which supports or emphasizes the point you are making. You should remember it, and what’s more, you should get it right. = moreover, furthermore PHRASE: V inflects, PHR cl c darkgreen]emphasis 17. all the more: see all any more: see any