among

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1. Among is now roughly ten times more common than amongst. It is the oldest form, which gave rise to the by-forms amonges (14th century, no longer in use) and among(e)st (16th century). There is no demonstrable difference of meaning between the two forms, and the distribution is unclear except that amongst seems to be less common in American English than in British English. An older view, which Fowler (1926) followed, that amongst is commoner before a word beginning with a vowel, is not borne out by the evidence (the most common word following amongst, as with among, is in fact the). Examples: (among)

The giants war among themselves—J. M. Coetzee, 1977

There were a lot of young people among the temporary staff—Penelope Fitzgerald, 1980

Britain also has the lowest level of welfare expenditure among the countries of the European Community—Times, 1985

(amongst) They stood on the edges of the lamplight amongst the wattles by the creek—Peter Carey, 1988

If a settled view is formed amongst voters that the additional money on the NHS has been wasted progressive politics will be in trouble for decades—Independent, 2007.

2. Among is much more often used than amongst in the expression among other things. This expression is strictly illogical, since among is inclusive and other is exclusive, but it is well established and usually causes no adverse comment. Perhaps it gets by on the coat-tails of the Latin equivalent inter alia, also self-contradictory but which few would venture to challenge.

3. For choice of among and between, see between ².

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prep

Definition: in a group
Antonyms: separate

prep

Definition: in the middle of; between
Antonyms: away from, outside, separate

IN BRIEF: In the middle of; surrounded by.

If you are to be among the noble you must be noble. If you are to be among the wise, you must be wise, if you would be among the pure in heart, you must be pure in heart. — Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975), Canadian-American religious leader, Canadian military officer.

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sign description: One hand has the 4-hand while the other hands index finger moves back and forth between the fingers.

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For a list of words related to amongst, see:

• Prepositions
• Reflections and References

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See words rhyming with "amongst."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Among.

Common misspelling(s) of among

• amoung

Dansk (Danish)
prep. - blandt, mellem

idioms:

• among other things    blandt andet, deriblandt

Nederlands (Dutch)
onder, te midden van, tussen

Français (French)
prep. - parmi, chez, entre

idioms:

• among other things    entre autres choses, entre autre
• among others    entre autres (choses)

Deutsch (German)
prep. - zwischen, unter

idioms:

• among other things    unter anderem, u.a.
• among others    unter anderem

Ελληνική (Greek)
prep. - ανάμεσα σε, μεταξύ

idioms:

• among other things    μεταξύ άλλων

Italiano (Italian)
fra

idioms:

• among other things    tra l'altro

Português (Portuguese)
prep. - entre, no meio de, juntamente com, rodeado por

idioms:

• among other things    entre outras coisas

Русский (Russian)
среди

idioms:

• among other things    среди прочего

Español (Spanish)
prep. - entre, en medio de

idioms:

• among other things    entre otras cosas
• among others    entre otros

Svenska (Swedish)
prep. - bland

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
在...之中, ...之一

idioms:

• among other things    除了别的以外

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
prep. - 在...之中, ...之一

idioms:

• among other things    除了別的以外

한국어 (Korean)
prep. - 의 사이에서, 이 함께

日本語 (Japanese)
prep. - 間に, 中に, 中で, …で分けて, …で協力して, 中の一つで

idioms:

• among other    数ある中で
• among other things    とりわけ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(حرف جر) وسط, فيما بين‏

עברית (Hebrew)
prep. - ‮בין, בתוך, בקרב‬

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