number
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: nŭmʹbər
ipa: /ˈnʌmbər/
ipa: [ˈnɐmbə(ɹ)]
ipa: [ˈnʌ̟mbɚ(ɹ)]
ipa: [ˈnɐmbɐ(ɹ)]
rhymes: -ʌmbə(ɹ)
Forms: form: numbers
form: nummer
form: numbre
Etymology: 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 divide”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Replaced Middle English ȝetæl and rime, more at tell, tale and rhyme.
Senses: examples: text: Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.
text: From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
ref: 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
text: Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
glosses: Quantity.
examples: text: Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.
glosses: An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
examples: text: The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.
text: The former FBI director James Comey has said it did not occur to him that that the numbers 8647 – which he spotted spelled out in seashells on a beach, and posted on social media – could be interpreted as a call to assassinate the president, as many supporters of Donald Trump have claimed.
ref: 2025 May 16, Edward Helmore, “What does ‘8647’ really mean? Not what Trump’s supporters are saying”, in The Guardian:
synonyms: word: scalar
word: rime
glosses: A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.
examples: text: The equation e#123;i#92;pi#125;#43;1#61;0 includes the most important numbers: 1, 0, #92;pi, i, and e.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.
examples: text: Horse number 5 won the race.
qualifier: Followed by a numeral
glosses: Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or №). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.
examples: text: Her passport number is C01X864TN.
glosses: A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.
examples: text: Let's give her a call. Do you have her number handy?
text: I'm definitely interested. Here's my number. Call me back anytime.
text: Rikki, don't lose that number / You don't wanna call nobody else / Send it off in a letter to yourself
ref: 1974, “Rikki Don't Lose That Number”, performed by Steely Dan:
text: “[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number?”
ref: 2001, E. Forrest Hein, The Ruach Project,, Xulon Press, page 86:
text: When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number?” Well, I don’t give my number to guys I don’t know.
ref: 2007, Lindsey Nicole Isham, No Sex in the City: One Virgin's Confessions on Love, Lust, Dating, and Waiting, Kregel Publications, page 111:
text: Marsha's work number is 555-8986.
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: A telephone number.
examples: text: Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case.
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.
examples: text: Griefe brought to numbers cannot be ſo fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verſe.
ref: a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Triple Foole”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 204:
text: As yet a Child, nor yet a Fool to Fame, / I liſp'd in Numbers, for the Numbers came.
ref: 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 124–125:
glosses: Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
examples: text: For his second number, he sang "The Moon Shines Bright".
glosses: A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.
examples: text: I include myself in their number.
text: As an association, we demonstrate near-Olympic sang-froid. As I write, the gods are smiling upon us, but in the past decade – not to mince words – two of our number have got divorced, one of us checked into rehab, and all of us have had distressful troubles with teenage kids.
ref: 2020 August 22, Robert McCrum, “For ever and a day: why we turn to Shakespeare at times of crisis”, in The Observer:
glosses: A group of people.
examples: text: I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number."
ref: 1968, Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel,, Little, Brown, page 40:
text: "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number, "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"
ref: 1988, Erica Jong, Serenissima,, Dell, page 214:
text: He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.
ref: 2005, Denise A. Agnew, Kate Hill, Arianna Hart, By Honor Bound,, Ellora's Cave Publishing, page 207:
glosses: A person.
examples: text: The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.
ref: 2007, Cesca Martin, Agony Angel: So You Think You've Got Problems...,, Troubador Publishing Ltd, page 134:
text: "I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."
ref: 2007, Lorelei James, Running with the Devil, Samhain Publishing, Ltd, page 46:
glosses: An outfit, particularly a stylish one.
examples: text: These were the two that Tommy had chosen to collect a debt owed to his family by a dude named Heath who ran numbers out of a grocery store on 131st and Lenox.
ref: 2005, K'wan, Hoodlum, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 1:
text: Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number, put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips […]
ref: 2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage, published 2010, page 12:
glosses: A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought from a dealer.
examples: text: the latest number of a magazine
text: When, in July, 1897, my father brought home the first number of The Railway Magazine, I little thought that, sixty years later, I should still be reading it, without having missed a single number.
ref: 1957 July 23, M. D. Greville, “A Diamond Jubilee of Railway Memories”, in Railway Magazine, page 458:
glosses: An issue of a periodical publication.
examples: text: Despite last week's woes, the Braves still sport numbers that would make Christie Brinkley blush.
ref: 1980 May 10, Al King, “Braves travel to New England with reputation”, in The Indiana Gazette:
glosses: A large amount, in contrast to a smaller amount; numerical preponderance.
glosses: An activity; assignment; job, as in cushy number.
Synonyms: word: number
Hyponyms: word: Grabovoi number
word: house number
word: opposite number
word: phone number
word: round number
word: serial number
word: telephone number
sense: grammar: Hyponyms of "number"
word: adverbial number
sense: grammar: Hyponyms of "number"
word: cardinal number
sense: grammar: Hyponyms of "number"
word: ordinal number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: complex number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: even number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: fraction
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: imaginary number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: integer
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: integral number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: irrational number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: natural number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: negative number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: odd number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: positive number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: prime number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: rational number
sense: mathematics: Hyponyms of "number"
word: real number
word: whole number
word: quaternion
word: composite number
word: algebraic integer
word: quadratic integer
word: algebraic number
word: transcendental number
word: perfect number
word: abundant number
word: amicable number
word: deficient number
Derived terms: word: 0800 number
word: 11 o'clock number
word: 800 number
word: 900 number
word: Abbe number
word: abbreviated number
word: abstract analytic number theory
word: abstract number
word: abundant number
word: accession number
word: account number
word: Achilles number
word: achromatic number
word: acid number
word: additive number theory
word: age is just a number
word: aggregation number
word: aircraft registration number
word: aleph number
word: algebraic number
word: algebraic number field
word: algebraic number theory
word: algorithmic number theory
word: all-figure number
word: amicable number
word: analytic number theory
word: angel number
word: A number
word: A number 1
word: a number of
word: any number of
word: apocalyptic number
word: Archimedes number
word: Armstrong number
word: atomic mass number
word: atomic number
word: Atwood number
word: autobiographical number
word: automorphic number
word: autonumber
word: Avogadro's number
word: azimuthal quantum number
word: back number
word: Bacon number
word: Bagnold number
word: baryon number
word: basic reproduction number
word: basic reproductive number
word: Bates number
word: Bejan number
word: Bell number
word: Bernoulli number
word: Betti number
word: bib number
word: bicomplex number
word: binary number
word: binding number
word: Biot number
word: book number
word: book-number
word: box number
word: broken number
word: by-the-numbers
word: by the numbers
word: cake number
word: call number
word: call someone's number
word: carbon number
word: Carmichael number
word: Carol number
word: Catalan number
word: cetane number
word: chromatic number
word: chromosome number
word: clique number
word: cloud number nine
word: collective number
word: color by number
word: color by numbers
word: composite number
word: computational number theory
word: concrete number
word: condition number
word: contact number
word: control number
word: coordination number
word: cop number
word: copy number
word: copy number polymorphism
word: copy-number variant
word: copy number variation
word: counting number
word: covering number
word: critical Reynolds number
word: crossing number
word: crossnumber
word: crunch numbers
word: Cullen number
word: Cullum number
word: curb number
word: cushy number
word: Cutter number
word: cyclic number
word: cyclomatic number
word: decimal number
word: defective number
word: deficient number
word: Delannoy number
word: de Moivre number
word: denumber
word: devil's number
word: dial number
word: diamond number
word: disc number
word: distributive number
word: do a number on
word: domination number
word: do numbers
word: double number
word: double-number
word: dual number
word: Dunbar's number
word: edge covering number
word: edge number
word: electron number
word: element number
word: E number
word: epsilon number
word: Erdős number
word: Erdos number
word: Euler's number
word: excessive number
word: extended real number system
word: falling number
word: false number 9
word: fax number
word: Fermat number
word: Fibonacci number
word: figurate number
word: file off the serial numbers
word: fixed-point number
word: flight number
word: floating-point number
word: f-number
word: fractional number
word: frame number
word: Fresnel number
word: friendly number
word: Frobenius number
word: Froude number
word: furry number
word: genuine number eleven
word: geometry of numbers
word: get someone's number
word: GLIDE number
word: Gödel number
word: God's number
word: Goldbach number
word: golden number
word: Graham's number
word: Greek number
word: Grundy number
word: Hagberg number
word: hailstone number
word: happy number
word: Hardy-Ramanujan number
word: harmonic number
word: Harshad number
word: Hartogs number
word: have one's number on it
word: have someone's number
word: Heegner number
word: Heesch number
word: hemiperfect number
word: hexagonal number
word: highly composite number
word: Hodges number
word: homogeneous number
word: Horowitz number
word: hyperbolic number
word: hypercomplex number
word: hypernumber
word: hyperperfect number
word: hyperreal number
word: ideal number
word: illegal number
word: independence number
word: interesting number paradox
word: inverse number
word: iodine number
word: IP number
word: item number
word: Kaprekar number
word: Keith number
word: Kirschner number
word: kissing number
word: Knudsen number
word: Köchel number
word: Lah number
word: law of large numbers
word: Laws number
word: Leonardo number
word: lepton number
word: Leyland number
word: line number
word: linking number
word: Liouville number
word: Listing number
word: L-number
word: look for number one
word: look out for number one
word: lose the number of one's mess
word: lot number
word: Lucas number
word: Ludolphian number
word: Ludolph's number
word: Lychrel number
word: Mach number
word: magic number
word: magnetic quantum number
word: make one's number
word: make up the numbers
word: Markov number
word: mass number
word: matching number
word: matching numbers
word: meandric number
word: mesh number
word: Messier number
word: misnumber
word: mixed number
word: mobile number
word: model number
word: motor octane number
word: Motzkin number
word: multinumber
word: multiplicative number
word: Narayana number
word: narcissistic number
word: natural numbers
word: natural numbers object
word: neutralization number
word: neutron number
word: Newton number
word: nimber
word: Niven number
word: nonhypotenuse number
word: non-hypotenuse number
word: nonstandard number
word: nothing-up-my-sleeve number
word: nucleon number
word: nude number
word: number 10
word: number 2
word: number 2 pencil
word: numberable
word: number close
word: number coding
word: number cruncher
word: number-cruncher
word: number-crunching
word: number crunching
word: number density
word: number eight
word: number eleven
word: numberer
word: number field
word: number five
word: number four
word: numberful
word: number game
word: number girl
word: numberhood
word: numberish
word: numberless
word: numberlike
word: number line
word: number needed to harm
word: numberness
word: number nine
word: number one
word: number one with a bullet
word: numberous
word: number pad
word: number plate
word: number ray
word: number sentence
word: number seven
word: numbers game
word: number sign
word: number six
word: numbers juggling
word: numbers-matching
word: numbersome
word: numbers racket
word: numbers station
word: number system
word: numbertaker
word: number ten
word: number-theoretic
word: number-theoretical
word: number-theoretically
word: number-theoretic function
word: number theoretician
word: number theorist
word: number theory
word: number three
word: number two
word: numberwang
word: Numberwang
word: numberwork
word: numbery
word: numeral
word: numeric
word: numerical
word: oblong number
word: occupation number
word: octane number
word: one's number is up
word: orbital quantum number
word: outnumber
word: overnumber
word: oxidation number
word: p-adic number
word: paint-by-numbers
word: paint by numbers
word: painting by numbers
word: pancake number
word: Pell number
word: pentatope number
word: perfect number
word: perplex number
word: personal identification number
word: PIN number
word: Pisot number
word: Pisot-Vijayaraghavan number
word: pitting resistance equivalent number
word: plate number coil
word: play number two
word: Polenske number
word: powerful number
word: practical number
word: Prandtl number
word: preferred number
word: premium-rate telephone number
word: prenumber
word: prime number theorem
word: principal quantum number
word: private enterprise number
word: Proth number
word: proton number
word: pseudoperfect number
word: pseudo-random number generator
word: pseudorandom number generator
word: public enemy number one
word: purely imaginary number
word: PV number
word: pyramidal number
word: quantum number
word: quaternary number
word: Ramanujan-Hardy number
word: Ramsey number
word: random number
word: random number generator
word: random number god
word: rational numbers
word: Rayo's number
word: real number line
word: real numbers
word: real number system
word: rectangular number
word: registration number
word: regnal number
word: Reichert-Meissl number
word: Reichert-Meissl-Wollny number
word: renumber
word: repfigit number
word: research octane number
word: Reynolds number
word: Richardson number
word: ringer equivalence number
word: R number
word: roll number
word: rookie numbers
word: rough number
word: Rouse number
word: routing number
word: RSA number
word: sad number
word: safety in numbers
word: Sagan's number
word: saponification number
word: schizophrenic number
word: Schröder number
word: semiperfect number
word: sex number
word: Sierpinski number
word: sieve number
word: silent number
word: single-number
word: Skewes' number
word: sociable number
word: social insurance number
word: social-security number
word: social security number
word: someone's number is up
word: sphenic number
word: spin quantum number
word: split-complex number
word: square number
word: Stephanus number
word: Stirling number
word: Stirling number of the second kind
word: Stirling partition number
word: street number
word: Strouhal number
word: student number
word: subnumber
word: sunspot number
word: superabundant number
word: superior highly composite number
word: supernumber
word: superparticular number
word: surreal number
word: tail number
word: tailnumber
word: take a number
word: taxicab number
word: tetrahedral number
word: there is safety in numbers
word: there is strength in numbers
word: times without number
word: tone number
word: total base number
word: transcendental number
word: transcendental number theory
word: transfinite number
word: trial number
word: triangular number
word: tricomplex number
word: turn a number of shades of red
word: turning number
word: unhappy number
word: unique identification number
word: unknown number
word: untouchable number
word: vampire number
word: vanity number
word: vehicle identification number
word: version number
word: vertex separation number
word: wave number
word: wavenumber
word: Weber number
word: weed number
word: weird number
word: what is your phone number
word: what number
word: what's your phone number
word: whole number
word: winding number
word: without number
word: Wolf number
word: Wratten number
word: wrong number
word: Zeisel number
word: Zürich number
english: number
translation: number
urls: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Category:English+lemmas&from=number#mw-pages
word: English terms starting with
Related terms: word: monad
word: pair
word: duo
word: dyad
word: twosome
word: triad
word: threesome
word: foursome
word: fivesome
word: sixsome
word: sevensome
word: eightsome
word: dozen
word: baker’s dozen
word: score
word: mono-
word: di-
word: tri-
word: tetra-
word: penta-
word: hexa-
word: hepta-
word: octa-
word: nona-
word: deca-
word: hendeca-
word: undeca-
word: dodeca-
word: duodeca-
word: trideca-
word: tetradeca-
word: pentadeca-
word: hexadeca-
word: heptadeca-
word: octadeca-
word: enneadeca-
word: icosa-
word: chilia-
word: oligo-
word: poly-
word: uni-
word: bi-
word: quadri-
word: quin-
word: quinque-
word: sexa-
word: duad
word: tetrad
word: pentad
word: hexad
word: hebdomad
word: heptad
word: ogdoad
word: octad
word: ennead
word: nonad
word: decad
word: decade
word: hendecad
word: dodecad
word: duodecade
word: chiliad
word: twin
word: triplet
word: quadruplet
word: quintuplet
word: sextuplet
word: septuplet
word: octuplet
word: nonuplet
word: solo
word: duet
word: trio
word: quartet
word: quintet
word: sextet
word: septet
word: octet
word: nonet
word: decet
word: duodecet
word: unary
word: binary
word: ternary
word: quaternary
word: quartary
word: quinary
word: senary
word: septenary
word: octonary
word: novenary
word: nonary
word: denary
word: duodenary
word: vigenary
word: centenary
word: singular
word: dual
word: trial
word: quadral
word: once
word: twice
word: thrice
word: four times
word: five times
word: onefold
word: twofold
word: threefold
word: fourfold
word: fivefold
word: sixfold
word: sevenfold
word: eightfold
word: ninefold
word: tenfold
word: octal
word: decimal
word: duodecimal
word: tetradecimal
word: pentadecimal
word: vigesimal
word: base 24
word: base 32
word: hexavigesimal
word: sexagesimal
word: octogesimal
word: whole
word: half
word: primary
word: secondary
word: tertiary
word: single
word: double
word: triple
word: treble
word: quadruple
word: quintuple
word: sextuple
word: septuple
word: octuple
word: multiple
word: ℙ
word: ℕ
word: ℤ
word: ℚ
word: ℝ
word: ℂ
word: niladic
word: monadic
word: dyadic
word: triadic
word: tetradic
word: pentadic
word: hexadic
word: heptadic
word: octadic
word: nonadic
word: decadic
word: polyadic
word: dilogy
word: trilogy
word: tetralogy
word: pentalogy
word: hexalogy
word: heptalogy
word: octology
word: ennealogy
word: decalogy
word: polylogy
word: vicenarian
word: tricenarian
word: quadragenarian
word: quinquagenarian
word: sexagenarian
word: septuagenarian
word: octogenarian
word: nonagenarian
word: centenarian
word: monomerous
word: trimerous
word: tetramerous
word: pentamerous
word: hexamerous
word: heptamerous
word: octamerous
word: monogon
word: digon
word: trigon
word: tetragon
word: pentagon
word: hexagon
word: heptagon
word: octagon
word: nonagon
word: decagon
word: dodecagon
word: quindecagon
word: polygon
word: tetrahedron
word: pentahedron
word: hexahedron
word: heptahedron
word: octahedron
word: decahedron
word: dodecahedron
word: icosahedron
word: icosidodecahedron
word: polyhedron
word: Appendix:Numbers
word: Appendix:Roman numerals