few

UK [fjʉː] US /fjuː/

det 4name 2pron 1

Definitions

det

An indefinite, but usually small, number of.

There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.

Quite a few people (=a significant number) were pleasantly surprised.

Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.

Very few did she have not to go there, did she?

I was expecting a big crowd at the party, but very few people (=almost none) turned up.

Obscuring one to two oktas (eighths) of the sky.

Tonight: A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight.

NOAA definition of the term few clouds: An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomena aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomena are surface-based, such as fog.

(US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.

pron

Few people, few things.

Many are called, but few are chosen.

name

The pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain.

Collocations

ADJ.

empty, english, left, little, own, quiet, rich, significant

There were only a few empty seats in the cinema last night.

VERB + FEW

called, deteriorated, dreamt, past, read, translate, want

I read a few chapters of that book before falling asleep last night.

FEW + NOUN

cars, days, friends, glasses, high-ranking, men, minutes, pages

I haven't seen my close friends in a few days and I really miss them.

PREP.

about, except, in, in, on

In the few minutes before the meeting started, we grabbed some coffee.

ADV.

further, quite

I've only read a few of his books, but I quite enjoyed the ones I picked up.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

Antonyms

many

Idioms & Phrases

few and far between

Rare and scarce; hard to find.

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, and I have met several lamas, notably the Phodong Lama of Sikhim and others like him, men who were thoroughly capable, who acted up

man of few words

A man who doesn't speak much; a habitually terse or taciturn man.

Tarzan but nodded his head. He was a man of few words, and possibly it was for this reason as much as any that Kadour ben Saden had taken to him, for if there be one thing that an

few sandwiches short of a picnic

Exhibiting disquiet or unsoundness of mind; not sane; mad.

I think the lady down the road is a few sandwiches short of a picnic—you often hear strange bangings at odd hours in the morning.

you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

Alternative form of you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

Narrator: Bob is dead, they shot him in the head! Tyler Durden: You wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs.

few cards shy of a full deck

Mentally deranged; demented; insane.

That guy might be a few cards shy of a full deck — he thinks that substitute sugar is really a government tracking system.

Example Bank

There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.

Wiktionary

Quite a few people (=a significant number) were pleasantly surprised.

Wiktionary

I think he's had a few drinks.

Wiktionary

Many are called, but few are chosen.

Wiktionary

If I wanted to scare you, I would tell you what I dreamt about a few weeks ago.

Tatoeba · #1412

It took me more than two hours to translate a few pages of English.

Tatoeba · #1617

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, few is marked as British. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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