few
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
few/fjuː/
▶determiner, pronoun, & adjective
- 1 (a few) a small number of.
- 2 not many.
■ (the Few) Brit. the RAF pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain.
– 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.
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.
– origin OE fēawe, fēawa, of Gmc origin.
usage: Fewer, the comparative form of few, is correctly used with words denoting people or countable things, while less is used with mass nouns, denoting things which cannot be counted. In addition, less is normally used with numbers and expressions of measurement or time. The use of less with a count noun (less people) is incorrect in standard English.
'few' also found in these Oxford entries:
all-in wrestling
- arcane
- basha
- blipvert
- block
- brief
- broom
- can
- chiller
- common market
- concise
- corpus luteum
- credible
- crumb
- easy
- El Niño
- -en
- endgame
- endplay
- -ess
- etrier
- express
- freestyle
- ghost town
- hug
- identikit
- know
- laconic
- less
- lest
- loop
- low-rise
- McJob
- measly
- microanalysis
- mis-
- morning sickness
- neutropenia
- oligarchy
- oligo-
- oligomer
- once
- one
- one-horse town
- open-plan
- other
- paucity
- plain
- precious
