Few
[fjuː] or [fju]
Definition
(noun.) a small elite group; 'it was designed for the discriminating few'.
(adj.) a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by `a'; a small but indefinite number; 'a few weeks ago'; 'a few more wagons than usual'; 'an invalid's pleasures are few and far between'; 'few roses were still blooming'; 'few women have led troops in battle' .
Typed by Geoffrey--From WordNet
Definition
(superl.) Not many; small, limited, or confined in number; -- indicating a small portion of units or individuals constituing a whole; often, by ellipsis of a noun, a few people.
Typist: Maxine
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Not many, small in number, hardly any, scarcely any.
Inputed by Barbara
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Scant, rare, lacking
ANT:Many, abundant, numerous
Checker: Trent
Definition
adj. small in number: not many.—n. Few′ness.—A few used colloquially for 'a good bit;' A good few a considerable number; In few=in a few (words) briefly; Some few an inconsiderable number; The few the minority.
Checked by Kenneth
Examples
- His labors, however, were interrupt ed by the death of his assistant Flemming, and by his own illness, which proved fatal in 1846, a few months before the actual discovery of Neptune. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Of the species which do change, only a few within the same country change at the same time; and all modifications are slowly effected. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- The reactions were all varied in various people, but they followed a few great laws, and intrinsically there was no difference. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I believe I could make an independent fortune in a few years if I devoted myself exclusively to portraits, so great is the desire for good portraits in the different country towns. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- There were only these few words in her neatly flowing hand:-- I have told Mrs. Casaubon. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- We can here consider only a few cases; of these, some of the most difficult to explain are presented by fish. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- This means that definite coordinations of activities of the eyes in seeing and of the body and head in striking are perfected in a few trials. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Rawdon acquiesced in the justice of her opinion; and in truth he had remarked that after a few nights of his little suppers, &c. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Very little white satin, very few lace veils; a most pitiful business! Jane Austen. Emma.
- He carried his sixty years as if they had been fewer than forty. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The 8000 or so motion-picture theatres of the country employ no fewer than 40,000 people, whose aggregate annual income amounts to not less than $37,000,000. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Every day fewer good. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- To this effect, in as few or fewer words, the Public Prosecutor. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Italy has not as many telephones as San Francisco, and all Russia, fewer than Chicago. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- A family which exercised great hospitality, would be taxed much more lightly than one who entertained fewer guests. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- In regard to animals, much fewer experiments have been carefully tried than with plants. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- But statistics do not show that as a whole there are fewer printers in the land. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- I found, now I had leisure to count them, that there were no fewer than six little Pockets present, in various stages of tumbling up. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- In the fewest words, the Sergeant showed them the evidence of the footmarks, and told them that a fatal accident must have happened to her. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The evening of life is described by Plato in the most expressive manner, yet with the fewest possible touches. Plato. The Republic.
- The disclosure of the conspiracy followed, after I had offered my preliminary explanation, first of all, in the fewest and the plainest words. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Let me state, then, in the fewest possible words, that Rachel Verinder had nothing but a life-interest in the property. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I chose it in the far east of London, where there were fewest idle people to lounge and look about them in the streets. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- With its mechanism reduced to the fewest and simplest parts, the whole machine weighs only six pounds, and it differs in many respects from the ordinary typewriter. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Editor: Wendell