Antonyms for fewer
| Grammar : Adj |
| Spell : fyoo-er |
| Phonetic Transcription : ˈfyu ər |
Definition of fewer
Origin :- Old English feawe (plural; contracted to fea) "few, seldom, even a little," from Proto-Germanic *faw-, from PIE root *pau- (1) "few, little" (cf. Latin paucus "few, little," paullus "little," parvus "little, small," pauper "poor;" Greek pauros "few, little," pais (genitive paidos) "child;" Latin puer "child, boy," pullus "young animal;" Oscan puklu "child;" Sanskrit potah "a young animal," putrah "son;" Old English fola "young horse;" Old Norse fylja "young female horse;" Old Church Slavonic puta "bird;" Lithuanian putytis "young animal, young bird"). Always plural in Old English.
- Phrase few and far between attested from 1660s. Unusual ironic use in quite a few "many" (1883), earlier a good few (1828). The noun is late 12c., fewe, from the adjective.
- Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. [Winston Churchill, 1940]
- adj hardly any
- No fewer than 12,000 persons had perished in the sandjak of Philippopolis!
- Extract from : « The Grand Old Man » by Richard B. Cook
- The fewer the marriageable girls, the higher their market value.
- Extract from : « Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 8, May 21, 1870 » by Various
- There could not be fewer than five hundred people, and they were dancing like five thousand demons.
- Extract from : « A Tale of Two Cities » by Charles Dickens
- To this effect, in as few or fewer words, the Public Prosecutor.
- Extract from : « A Tale of Two Cities » by Charles Dickens
- And the greater the success, the fewer are the signs of the labour expended.
- Extract from : « A Dish Of Orts » by George MacDonald
- His industry may be inferred from the number of his engravings and etchings, of which he left not fewer than 1600.
- Extract from : « Self-Help » by Samuel Smiles
- And again, if you consider the world, by how few understood, and praised by fewer!
- Extract from : « The Praise of Folly » by Desiderius Erasmus
- Carlyle's theory of "Hero Worship" has fewer adherents than for half a century.
- Extract from : « The American Mind » by Bliss Perry
- We had fewer specialists, and our equipment was probably inferior.
- Extract from : « With Manchesters in the East » by Gerald B. Hurst
- The fewer patients he had, the more time he could devote to his favourite sciences.
- Extract from : « The Fortune of the Rougons » by Emile Zola
Synonyms for fewer
- exiguous
- few and far between
- imperceptible
- inconsequential
- inconsiderable
- infrequent
- insufficient
- lean
- less
- meager
- middling
- minor
- minority
- minute
- negligible
- not many
- not too many
- occasional
- paltry
- petty
- piddling
- rare
- scant
- scanty
- scarce
- scarcely any
- scattered
- scattering
- seldom
- semioccasional
- short
- skimpy
- slender
- slight
- slim
- some
- sparse
- sporadic
- stingy
- straggling
- thin
- trifling
- uncommon
- unfrequent
- widely spaced
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019