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few meaning

EN[fjuː] [fju] [-uː]
US UK
EN Few

    Definition of few in English Dictionary

  • Pronoun
    1. Few people, few things.
      1. Many are called, but few are chosen.
  • Determiner
    1. (preceded by another determiner) An indefinite, but usually small, number of.
      1. No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.
    2. (used alone) Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.
      1. There are few people who understand quantum theory.   Many are called, but few are chosen. ‎
    3. (meteorology, of clouds) (US?) Obscuring one eighth to two eighths of the sky.
      1. Tonight: A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight. ‎
      2. 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 phenomenon aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomenon are surface-based, such as fog.
    4. (meteorology, of rainfall with regard to a location) (US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.
    5. More Examples
      1. Used in the Middle of Sentence
        • But few in Córdoba think fernet and Coke, like the city itself, will lose its edge.
        • The cryogenic system will not be affected by temperature fluctuations of a few millidegrees.
        • There are a few lists you should make before you start wireframing.
      2. Used in the Beginning of Sentence
        • Few TTR variants preferentially affect the central nervous system, manifesting as oculoleptomeningeal amyloidosis.
        • Few goals had been expected with the three league meetings between the sides this season having produced one goal - and that a controversial penalty scored by Dons striker Scott Vernon.
        • Few people are very patient when they′ve had less down time than Warren Beatty′s todger.
      3. Used in the Ending of Sentence
        • The area was plagued by all sorts of vermin: fleas, lice, mice, and rats to name a few.
        • The name "Appalachia" evokes a host of popular images and stereotypes: feuds, individualism, moonshine, subsistence farming, quilting bees, illiteracy, and dueling banjos, to name just a few.
        • It is more than two weeks that Babylon 5 aired for the last time. We, Portuguese Fivers of conviction, are few.
    • Part-of-Speech Hierarchy
      1. Determiners
        • Pronouns
          • Indefinite pronouns
        Related Links:
        1. en fewer
        2. en fewest
        3. en fewe
        4. en fewl
        5. en fewly
        Source: Wiktionary

        Meaning of few for the defined word.

        Grammatically, this word "few" is a determiner. It's also a pronoun, more specifically, an indefinite pronoun.
        Difficultness: Level 1
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        Easy     ➨     Difficult
        Definiteness: Level 9
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        Definite    ➨     Versatile