Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Amount or number

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Amount or number

Amount: noun - total to which anything amounts, total quantity or number; quantity or sum viewed as the total reached; 

Number: noun - precise sum or aggregate of; abstract entity representing a quantity, used to express how many things are being referred to, or how much there is of something; an arithmetical value corresponding to a particular quantity of something; word, symbol or figure representing an arithmetical unit, a numeral; total, value expressed in figures, a statistic; arithmetical value; person or thing having a place in a series; any of a collection of songs or poems; a song, tune; girl or young woman; full count of a collection of persons or things.

Where Amount usually refers to a mass, number generally refers to a quantity.

‘An enormous amount of publicity surrounded the death of John F Kennedy.’

‘The number of stories relating the death of Elvis Presley could be counted in thousands.’

‘The pretty girl was a cute number, dressed in a stylish number, as she listened and danced to the latest number played by the rock band.’