(~er, ~est)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use a ~ to indicate that you are talking about a small number of people or things. You can also say a very ~.
I gave a dinner party for a ~ close friends...
Here are a ~ more ideas to consider...
She was silent for a ~ seconds.
DET: DET pl-n
•
Few is also a pronoun.
Doctors work an average of 90 hours a week, while a ~ are on call for up to 120 hours...
A strict diet is appropriate for only a ~.
PRON
•
Few is also a quantifier.
There are many ways eggs can be prepared; here are a ~ of them.
...a little tea-party I’m giving for a ~ of the teachers.
QUANT: QUANT of def-pl-n
2.
You use ~ after adjectives and determiners to indicate that you are talking about a small number of things or people.
The past ~ weeks of her life had been the most pleasant she could remember...
...in the last ~ chapters...
A train would pass through there every ~ minutes at that time of day.
ADJ: adj/det ADJ n
3.
You use ~ to indicate that you are talking about a small number of people or things. You can use ‘so’, ‘too’ and ‘very’ in front of ~.
She had ~ friends, and was generally not very happy...
Few members planned to vote for him...
Very ~ firms collect the tax, even when they’re required to do so by law.
? many
DET: DET pl-n
•
Few is also a pronoun.
The trouble is that ~ want to buy, despite the knockdown prices on offer.
...a true singing and songwriting talent that ~ suspected.
PRON
•
Few is also a quantifier.
Few of the volunteers had military experience.
QUANT: QUANT of def-pl-n
•
Few is also an adjective.
...spending her ~ waking hours in front of the TV...
His memories of his father are ~.
ADJ
4.
The ~ means a small set of people considered as separate from the majority, especially because they share a particular opportunity or quality that the others do not have.
This should not be an experience for the ~.
...a system built on academic excellence for the ~.
N-SING: the N
5.
You use as ~ as before a number to suggest that it is surprisingly small.
One study showed that even as ~ as ten cigarettes a day can damage fertility...
PHRASE: PHR num emphasis
6.
Things that are ~ and far between are very rare or do not happen very often.
In this economic climate new ideas were ~ and far between.
= rare
PHRASE: v-link PHR emphasis
7.
You use no ~er than to emphasize that a number is surprisingly large.
No ~er than thirteen foreign ministers attended the session.
PHRASE: PHR num emphasis