51Թ

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View synonyms for

few

[ fyoo ]

adjective

fewer, fewest.
  1. not many but more than one:

    Few artists live luxuriously.



noun

  1. (used with a plural verb) a small number or amount:

    Send me a few.

  2. the few, a special, limited number; the minority:

    That music appeals to the few.

pronoun

  1. (used with a plural verb) a small number of persons or things:

    A dozen people volunteered, but few have shown up.

few

/ ː /

determiner

    1. a small number of; hardly any

      few men are so cruel

    2. ( as pronoun; functioning as plural )

      many are called but few are chosen

  1. preceded by a
    1. a small number of

      a few drinks

    2. ( as pronoun; functioning as plural )

      a few of you

  2. a good few informal.
    several
  3. few and far between
    1. at great intervals; widely spaced
    2. not abundant; scarce
  4. have a few or have a few too many
    to consume several ( or too many) alcoholic drinks
  5. not a few or quite a few informal.
    several
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the few
    a small number of people considered as a class Compare many

    the few who fell at Thermopylae

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Usage

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Derived Forms

  • ˈڱɲԱ, noun
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Other 51Թ Forms

  • v·ڱ adjective
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of few1

First recorded before 900; Middle English fewe, Old English ŧɱ; cognate with Gothic fawai; akin to Latin paucus “f,” paulus “lٳٱ,” pauper ‼Ǵǰ,” Greek 貹ûDz “little, few”
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of few1

Old English ŧɲ ; related to Old High German fao little, Old Norse little, silent
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Idioms and Phrases

  1. few and far between, at widely separated intervals; infrequent:

    In Nevada the towns are few and far between.

  2. quite a few, a fairly large number; many:

    There were quite a few interesting things to do.

More idioms and phrases containing few

  • a few
  • bricks shy of a load, (a few)
  • of few words
  • precious few
  • quite a bit (few)
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

There have been few criminal prosecutions of county staffers accused of abuse in the lawsuits.

From

"The last few days have been tumultuous to say the least," he said.

From

After a few years of navigating widowhood, the women in my grief group encouraged me to get back “out there.”

From

A few minutes later, Rachel invited Birdsall in to throw the switch, and the sign blinked to life over the windswept desert.

From

With the increase of punk rock festivals in Los Angeles over the past few years, such as Lie Detector Fest and C.Y.

From

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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