number 1 of 2

Definition of numbernext
1
as in digit
a character used to represent a mathematical value asked him to write out the equation in numbers, not letters

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in composition
a literary, musical, or artistic production a doomsday novel that turns out to be one of those it-was-all-a-dream numbers

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
as in act
a performance regularly presented by an individual or group a modern dance number

Synonyms & Similar Words

4
5
as in feat
an act of notable skill, strength, or cleverness a stunning gymnastics number that really impressed the judges

Synonyms & Similar Words

6
as in calculation
numbers plural the act or process of performing mathematical operations to find a value if you believe the president's numbers, we can afford these new programs and still have tax cuts

Synonyms & Similar Words

number

2 of 2

verb

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of number
Noun
Amid all the new stars lie even greater numbers of brown dwarfs and also less massive objects, around the physical size of Jupiter (and smaller), that simply didn’t grow big enough quickly enough to become stars on their own. Big Think, 30 Apr. 2026 The outdoor ceremony featured a number of speakers on a red dais, including Kim and Mayor Brandon Johnson, with his predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who drove the casino project, in a front-row seat. Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
Verb
The 25 spacecraft added to SpaceX's megaconstellation, which numbers more than 10,275 satellites circling the planet. Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 20 Apr. 2026 The days when a seafaring nation could rely on a blue-water fleet of major combat ships numbering less than one or two hundred hulls is over. David Szondy april 20, New Atlas, 20 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for number
Recent Examples of Synonyms for number
Noun
  • In the document made public Wednesday, Silverman alleged Burke cut off those digits to remove evidence of a tattoo Hernandez had gotten of the singer’s name.
    Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Entering this season, four of Morejón’s 2,061 career fastballs had reached triple digits.
    Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • These ten compositions depend on lights in darkness, most commonly generated by candles, by the moon, or—as in the most famous painting here, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (circa 1767)—by both.
    Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026
  • The songs are contextualized a little and, among other gentle pleasures, Kole and Galante explore a little of the structural complexity of Bacharach’s constantly shape-shifting music, an outlier among pop compositions and indicative of the composer’s technical genius.
    Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • The jury also found that Esperanza-Pacheco committed a forcible lewd act upon a child during the commission of a first-degree residential burglary, prosecutors said.
    Jason Green, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2026
  • This act of contrition is legible in East Asia, but slightly awkward when performed by Western actors.
    Chang Che, New Yorker, 25 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • As zonky cross-generational ciphers go, the group’s debut, Strictly 4 the Scythe, is no Hypnotize Camp Posse, the amalgam of Three 6 Mafia and a grip of artists signed to their Hypnotize Minds label in the early 2000s.
    Dylan Green, Pitchfork, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The still-unidentified Zodiac Killer, who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s, frequently sent threats, demands and ciphers to multiple local papers — namely the San Francisco Chronicle.
    Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 21 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • The feat was the culmination of a shift—or, perhaps more aptly, a total disruption—in marathoning over the past few years, in which the eventual breaking of the mythical two-hour mark went from an impossibility to a guarantee.
    Alex Hutchinson, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Mantle and Berra accomplished the feat in 1956.
    Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • And that's when their calculations revealed that these animals were probably gargantuan — well larger than the giant Pacific octopus, today's biggest member of the family whose arm span often exceeds 13 feet.
    Ari Daniel, NPR, 24 Apr. 2026
  • The team evaluated the size of the ancient octopuses using allometric calculation—a method that used the proportional growth rates of modern, long-bodied finned octopuses to extrapolate the size of their extinct relatives.
    Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 24 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • Suddenly, the 107 points and the 113 goals garnered over the first 45 league games of a quite remarkable season were going to count for nothing, save for a tilt at the same play-offs that had proved to be the graveyard of their promotion hopes in the semi-finals a year ago.
    Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2026
  • Unlike preseason basketball, Bazzell pointed out, Unrivaled’s road stops feature games that count.
    Alexa Stone, Kansas City Star, 26 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • Kalshi also aggregates trading activity into real-time data reflecting market expectations and public sentiment.
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2026
  • To see how many Americans are exposed to nitrates at those lower concentrations, researchers used the EWG tap water database, which aggregates data from nearly 50,000 public water systems in the United States.
    Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 23 Apr. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Number.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/number. Accessed 1 May. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on number

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster