few

  • determiner, pronoun, & adjective 1 (a few) a small number of. 2 not many.

  • noun the few a select minority.

  — PHRASES few and far between scarce. a good few Brit. a fairly large number of. no fewer than a surprisingly large number of. not a few a considerable number. quite a few a fairly large number. some few some but not many.

  — USAGE Fewer, the comparative form of few, should be used with plural nouns, as in there are fewer people here today; use less with nouns denoting things that cannot be counted, as in there is less blossom on this tree. The use of less with a plural noun (less people) is incorrect in standard English.

  — ORIGIN Old English.

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