few
determiner
[ fjuː ]
• a small number of.
• "may I ask a few questions?"
Similar:
not many,
hardly any,
scarcely any,
a small number of,
a small amount of,
a small quantity of,
one or two,
a handful of,
a sprinkling of,
little,
a couple of,
a small number,
a handful,
a sprinkling,
a couple,
two or three,
• used to emphasize how small a number is.
• "he had few friends"
Similar:
not many,
hardly any,
scarcely any,
a small number of,
a small amount of,
a small quantity of,
one or two,
a handful of,
a sprinkling of,
little,
a couple of,
scarce,
scant,
scanty,
meagre,
insufficient,
negligible,
in short supply,
thin on the ground,
scattered,
seldom met with,
few and far between,
infrequent,
uncommon,
rare,
sporadic,
few
pronoun
• a small number of people or things.
• "I will recount a few of the stories told me"
• used to emphasize how small a number of people or things is.
• "few thought to challenge these assumptions"
few
noun
• the minority of people; the elect.
• "art is not just for the few"
Similar:
a small number,
a handful,
a sprinkling,
one or two,
a couple,
two or three,
not many,
hardly any,
Opposite:
a lot,
Origin:
Old English fēawe, fēawa, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German fao, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin paucus and Greek pauros ‘small’.
