What does “few” mean?
- 1
determinera small number of; some
I’ll be back in a few minutes.
- 2
determinernot many, often less than wanted or expected
Few people came to the meeting, so we canceled it.
Few at a glance
- Part of speech
- determiner
- CEFR level
- A1 (beginner)
- Pronunciation
- /fju/ · FYOO
- Forms
- fewer, fewest
How to use “few” correctly
“A few” is positive (some), but “few” alone is negative (not many). Use “few” with countable nouns and “little” with uncountable ones.
Common phrases with “few”
- a few
- quite a few
- very few
- few and far between
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Antonyms (opposite meaning)
“few” is on these word lists
Learn these words next
- all determinerA1the whole number or amount of something
- any determinerA1some; used in questions and negative sentences
- both determinerA1the two people or things together
- enough determinerA1as much or as many as you need
- every determinerA1all the people or things in a group, considered one by one
- many determinerA1a large number of
- more determinerA1a larger number or amount of something
- much determinerA1a large amount of something, used with uncountable nouns