number
Quantity of countable things.
Noun 4 meanings
Quantity of countable things.
“Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.”
An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
“Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.”
A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.
“The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.”
An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.
“The equation e#123;i#92;pi#125;#43;1#61;0 includes the most important numbers: 1, 0, #92;pi, i, and e.”
Verb 4 meanings
To total or count; to amount to.
“I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.”
To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number.
“The old man knew that his days were numbered.”
To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).
“Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.”
To call out and assign a series of numbers (usually to people), either for the sake of dividing into groups or for counting.
“Shelley numbered off the group into two teams for the baseball game.”
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to distribute, to give, to take”).
Similar and opposite words
NUMBER at a glance
NUMBER has 6 letters and scores 10 points in Scrabble (N 1 + U 1 + M 3 + B 3 + E 1 + R 1) and 14 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #203 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with number
All rhymesOne letter away
- LUMBER10
- DUMBER11
- NUMBED11
- CUMBER12
- NUBBER10
Keep going
Related lists
Looking for a different word?
Type the letters you have and the Finder shows every word that fits.