Dictionary

fewer en · DET

Pronunciation

• /ˈfjuː.ɚ/ (US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English fewere, equivalent to few + -er.

Meanings

1. (comparative, form-of) comparative degree of few; a smaller number.
   form of few
   • Construction of the station and approach line involved considerable engineering work and the demolition of no fewer than 540 houses and a church, […]. 1957 August 14, “Notes and News; Tithebarn Street Station, Liverpool”, in Railway Magazine, page 589:
   • This hypothesis goes by many names, including group resistence, the threshold effect, and the gender paradox. Because the hypothesis holds such wide appeal, it is worth revisiting the logic behind it. The hypothesis is built on the factual observation that fewer females than males act antisocially. 2001 September 27, Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Michael Rutter, Phil A. Silva, Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 151:
   • There are fewer tigers than there were a hundred years ago.
   • Fewer women wear hats these days.
2. (hypercorrect) Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer
   • Leaving from my home in Alameda, the heavily BART-assisted journey took fewer than five hours round trip. 2026 May 7, Peter Hartlaub, “This former Bay Area rail line is a biking paradise. And you don’t need a car to get there”, in San Francisco Chronicle, page A11:

Forms

Deriveds

the fewer the better fare · could care fewer

Relateds

less

Translations (30)

cmn 較少 /较少 (comparative of few; a smaller number) · az daha az (comparative of few; a smaller number) · pt menos (comparative of few; a smaller number) · mi iti iho (comparative of few; a smaller number) · hu kevesebb (comparative of few; a smaller number) · da færre (comparative of few; a smaller number) · de weniger (comparative of few; a smaller number) · cmn 少 (comparative of few; a smaller number) · es menos (comparative of few; a smaller number) · ga lú (comparative of few; a smaller number) · enm les (comparative of few; a smaller number) · grc ἐλάσσων (comparative of few; a smaller number) · enm fewere (comparative of few; a smaller number) · fi harvempi (comparative of few; a smaller number) · cy llai (comparative of few; a smaller number) · cmn 更少 (comparative of few; a smaller number) · la paucior (comparative of few; a smaller number) · fr moins (de) (comparative of few; a smaller number) · sv färre (comparative of few; a smaller number) · ar أَقَلّ (comparative of few; a smaller number) · pl mniej (comparative of few; a smaller number) · ca menys (comparative of few; a smaller number) · got 𐍆𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌶𐌰 (comparative of few; a smaller number) · it meno (comparative of few; a smaller number) · nl minder (comparative of few; a smaller number) · ru ме́ньше (comparative of few; a smaller number) · uk ме́ньше (comparative of few; a smaller number) · fi vähemmän (comparative of few; a smaller number) · no færre (comparative of few; a smaller number) · he פחות (comparative of few; a smaller number)