plus or minus

adverb

Definition of plus or minusnext
as in approximately
close to but not exactly I have plus or minus five dollars in change

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 plus or minus But the race for governor is effectively deadlocked, with Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. — Adam Beam, AJC.com, 24 July 2026 The poll of 1,000 Americans was conducted from September 2 to September 16, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. — Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 May 2026 Here, purchaser simply put money in, and got money back, plus or minus their investment return, and less fees and expenses. — Jay Adkisson, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2023 With only about 340 individuals — plus or minus seven — remaining, according to a report released in the fall by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, the whales are VIP visitors to the region's waters. — Heather McCarron, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2023 See All Example Sentences for plus or minus
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plus or minus
  1. approximately
  2. about
  3. roughly
  4. say
  5. around
Adverb
  • The chart shared by NASA showed Orion docking with the Blue Moon lander in an elliptical lunar orbit, approximately 8,500 km above the Moon’s surface.
    — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Even as the sense of a hazy disturbance in the force lingers, Burkholder’s approximately three-minute statement at least demystified some of the curious situation.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of approximately
Adverb
  • Baltzor and her husband Keith, had just finished riding a bunch of about 150 hundred head of their cattle down Highway 205 on horseback from another pasture.
    — Anna King, NPR, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Thanks to a demolition crew’s early Saturday morning implosion, an 18-story office tower that has hung over Clairmont Road in Chamblee for about five decades has been reduced to rubble.
    — Savannah Sicurella, AJC.com, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of about
Adverb
  • And the number of buyers -- roughly 929,000 -- represented the fewest on record dating back to 2013, while the tally of sellers jumped to its highest level since 2020.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2026
  • California officials have countered that the list is unverified and includes the names of lawful voters, despite recent charges announced by DOJ of roughly 28 individuals from the list accused of voting and immigration-related crimes.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of roughly
Adverb
  • The result has been a group of ridiculously talented dancers with a never-say-quit attitude and a lot of stuff to say — and doing it elegantly.
    — Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026
Definition of say
Adverb
  • The venue this time around was an equally airy, heavenly, pale-toned 19th-century apartment in Paris’s ninth arrondissement, a bread roll’s throw away from the original Rose Bakery.
    — Mark Holgate, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Unlike the initial push to spread money around to bet on would-be AI winners, there is not enough to go around at this stage.
    — Zev Fima, CNBC, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of around

Browse Nearby Words

plushy
plus or minus
plutocracy
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Plus or minus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plus%20or%20minus. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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