more or less

Idioms  

1. Approximately, as in The truck will hold nine yards of dirt, more or less . This usage was first recorded in 1589.

2. Basically, essentially, as in We more or less agree on the substance of the letter . This usage was first recorded about 1225.

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Example Sentences

Whether people ate more or less sweet-tasting items, their preference for sweetness stayed the same.

From Science Daily

"Everybody wants this to be resolved," summed up an EU diplomat, saying fellow capitals were "more or less fed up" with the Hungarian leader's behaviour.

From Barron's

This is a change from companies’ practice of spreading “peanut-butter raises” more or less evenly across the entire team, he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal

A groundbreaking comedy for its time, it paved the way for other sketch comedy that followed using the same formula, more or less, such as “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” and “Saturday Night Live.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Then she was gone, more or less in a puff of smoke.

From Literature