Is $2,300 "several thousand" dollars to you?

To me, several would have to be at least four or five thousand. Would you ever describe $2,300 as several thousand dollars?

I know this is pretty trivial, but today, two news programs, Fox and CBS local news described that amount of money as "several thousand" in a story about money raised for a wounded soldier. Granted, they probably were quoting the same press release but I don't understand how they could describe two of anything as "several." Or am I missing something?

I would consider it as such but just barely. Between 2 and 10.

That so surprising to me Alan. I am glad I asked. I really never think of two or even three as several.

$3,000 is several thousand dollars, $4,000 is several thousand, $2,300 is less than 2 & 1/2 thousand.

RedBedroom wrote:That so surprising to me Alan. I am glad I asked. I really never think of two or even three as several.

This is the typical definition of "several" that I've found, "being more than two but fewer than many in number or kind." I think "many" is a more arbitrary number. As 2,300 is more than 2,000, I stand by my original opinion that it is several but just barely.

No. I would consider that a "couple o' thousand" dollars ~ several from 3 on up.

Bluesmama wrote:No. I would consider that a "couple o' thousand" dollars ~ several from 3 on up.

I looked it up and Alan is correct. Still seems odd to me. I consider "many" and "several" synonymous, but apparently that is incorrect.

Disclaimer: these are only MY rules

I would describe $2,300 as a couple thousand dollars.

Two means "a couple", three means "a few" and four or more means "several". SEVERAL literally means either "more than two" (literally) or "more than three" (colloquially) depending on how it's being used. But it always denotes a small amount, which suggests that you would not use the term "several" to describe 10 or more. "A few" is actually nearly synonomous with "several" in that it literally means "more than one" but not that many. But, someone would not typically describe an amount less than 3 as "several" because that term ALWAYS denotes an amount more than 2 and USUALLY denotes an amout more than 3 as well.

Even though $2,300 is technically (more than 2 thousand dollars), it is less than $3,000 so because it is less than 3 I wouldn't describe it as several. And personally, I wouldn't describe $3,000 as several either because I would describe that as "a few thousand dollars".

1 = "a/an"
2 = "a couple"
3 = "a few"
4 - 9 = "several"
10 or more = "some", "a bunch", "many", "tens", etc

^^ Agree. $2300 is a couple thousand. $3000 is not far removed from that. It would have to be at least 4 or more to count as "several" for me.

CeCe wrote:^^ Agree. $2300 is a couple thousand. $3000 is not far removed from that. It would have to be at least 4 or more to count as "several" for me.