Approximately vs more or less

Both 'approximately' and 'more or less' are correct and commonly used to indicate an estimated or rough amount. They can be used interchangeably in most contexts.

Last updated: April 06, 2024 • 85 views

The word 'approximately' is correct and commonly used to indicate an estimated or rough amount.

"Approximately"

It is used to convey that a value is close to the actual amount but not exact.

Examples:

The project will take approximately two weeks to complete.
The population of the city is approximately 1 million people.

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Approximately five days, until the battery dies.
Approximately 50 feet above sea level.
Approximately 40 seconds after liftoff, all telemetry data ceased.
Approximately since 2000 - professional having a rest.
Approximately 80 FBI agents conducted interviews with potential witnesses daily.
Approximately 100,000 people watched the launch from Cape Canaveral.
Approximately 1,000 imperial mercenaries drowned while looking for a ford.
Approximately 3,000 units were completed from 1943 to 1945.
Approximately 10% of idiopathic SLE is drug-induced.
Approximately 500 million correlation coefficients have been calculated.
Approximately 80 percent of global tungsten ore production comes from China.
Approximately two miles south and closing.
Approximately 5,000 light-years away from Earth.
Approximately 200 years ago the house was enlarged.
Approximately 2,500 were produced between 1938 and 1945.
Approximately 10,000 tons were produced in 2005.
Approximately 8,000 students are in attendance.
Approximately 10% of the population are immigrants.
Approximately 11,500 Quads were built between 1913 and 1919.
Approximately three-fourths of Mauritania is desert or semidesert.

Alternatives:

roughly
around
about
close to

The phrase 'more or less' is correct and commonly used to indicate an estimated or rough amount.

"more or less"

It is used to convey that a value is close to the actual amount but not exact, with a slight implication of variability.

Examples:

The journey will take more or less an hour.
The cost of the repairs will be $500, more or less.

Show examples from the web [+]

Only the grandfather Aron-Leyzer more or less calmed people.
Cohesion was more or less kept.
That'd be more or less a miracle.
You all proved more or less adequate.
I think I understand more or less.
We will be lenient... more or less.
So, Antony more or less forced Octavian into war.
For periods of time more or less continuously.
Along that line, more or less.
And we proved the concept, more or less.
Interestingly, it seemed to correspond more or less to Jung's four subdivisions of human thought.
What I eat is more or less eatable.
So now the whole thing's more or less kaput.
That's more or less the thing.
It's thirty-two miles, more or less.
I've been here since 1984, more or less.
That's more or less it.
Ten thousand francs, more or less.
Plumbing and air conditioning seem more or less identical.
50,000 American dollars, more or less.

Alternatives:

approximately
roughly
around
about

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Approximately vs more or less

"Approximately"

"more or less"

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