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few

few [ fyoo ] (comparative few·er, superlative few·est) CORE MEANING: a grammatical word used to indicate that there are not many or hardly any people or things
 (adj) There were few books on the shelves.
 (adj) spending her few free hours relaxing in front of the television
 (pron) Many people have entered the contest, but few will win prizes.
 (pron) Few of the gardens had been cared for.
Definition:
 
1. plural noun limited number: a limited or exclusive number, e.g. an elite or minority of people
 (npl) the fortunate few who managed to escape sickness this winter
 (npl) The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
 (pron) Few would have thought it.

2. adjective a few some, though not many: not very many people or things, but more than two, and sometimes more than might be expected
 (adj) We had a few meetings before signing the contract.
 (pron) Only a few ever achieve real artistic success.
 (pron) A few of the kids wanted to watch a video.

[ Old English fēawa< Indo-European]

few·ness noun

few and far between scarce or infrequent (informal)

quite a few a fairly large number (informal)


Word Usage
fewer or less?

As a general rule, fewer is used with things you can count (fewer meetings,fewer people), whereas less is used with things you cannot count (less time,less money). The same difference applies to the use of fewer than and less than: fewer than twenty people,less than an hour. Designations of price, age, and measurement are normally regarded as singular, the idea being that, for example, It cost less than ten dollars has to do with an amount of money rather than a number of individual dollars. The use of less where the sense of countable number is strong (You may use the express lane if you have less than eight items) is relatively common, though many object to it.

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