Fewer

Definition: Fewer

Fewer

Adjective

1. (comparative of `few' used with count nouns) quantifier meaning a smaller number of; "fewer birds came this year"; "the birds are fewer this year"; "fewer trains were late".

Date "fewer" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Domain	Definitions
Tips from 1870	Usage: Fewer, Less. Fewer refers to number, less to quantity. "He had less friends than I, and yet he was elected." Say "He had fewer friends." "There were no less than fifty cows in the field." Use fewer. Source: Slips of Speech.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Antonym: more(a) (adj). (additional references)

Domain

Usage

Screenplays

I don't mind being one of the few; trouble is we keep getting fewer. (The Longest Day; writing credit: Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall, Cornelius Ryan, and Jack Seddon. based on the book by Cornelius Ryan.)

Of course, there are fewer lights on than usual. (The Mirror Crack'd; writing credit: Agatha Christie; Jonathan Hales)

And though every single human in the stands or in the commentary boxes was at a complete loss for words, the man who in his life had uttered fewer words than any of them knew exactly what to say. (Babe; writing credit: George Miller)

There are going to be fewer but better Russians. (Ninotchka; writing credit: Melchior Lengyel; Charles Brackett)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Controlling Weeds With Fewer Chemicals: How to Cut Your Herbicide Costs and Protect the Environment (reference) Fewer Companies Controlling Time Spent Online [DOWNLOAD: PDF] (reference) Longer Hours, Fewer Jobs: Employment and Unemployment in the United States (Cornerstone Books) (reference) Low-Calorie Cookbook: Great Tasting Recipes-All Nutritions, All with Fewer Than 400 Calories (reference) More, Fewer, Less (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Fewer Threads Than These (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Scouting a farm for pest problems. Scouting is part of an integrated pest management system that treats only the portions of a field that have problems, rather than the whole field, resulting in using fewer farm chemicals.Credit: Tim McCabe.		Because much of the cost of a cow is the feed and labor needed to maintain her, fewer but higher yielding cows mean lower priced milk. Dairy herd improvement ultimately benefits consumers. Photo by Keith Weller.Credit: USDA ARS News.
	Production. Submarines. Before gasoline rationing, in a Midwest shipyard's parking lot. Today, this same view would probably show fewer cars, as workers all over the country have formed car pool clubs to save tires and gasoline.Credit: Library of Congress.		We cannot tell a lie : George Washington helped win the vote for fewer than 2 million white males ...Credit: Library of Congress.
	My advice to the women of America is to raise more hell and fewer dahlias.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Alexander Hamilton	In all legislative assemblies, the greater the number composing them may be, the fewer will be the men who will in fact direct their proceedings.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld	Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.
Luther	The fewer the words, the better the prayer.
Oliver Wendell Holmes	A new and valid idea is worth more than a regiment and fewer men can furnish the former than command the latter.
Peter F. Drucker	Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better.
Socrates	The fewer our wants the more we resemble the Gods.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	Where there are fewer houses and fewer streets, the sewer has fewer airholes.
Grapes of Wrath	Steinbeck, John	And as time went on, the business men had the farms, and the farms grew larger, but there were fewer of them.
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	Every room has in it one or more projectors, and I believe I could not be in fewer than five hundred rooms.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	But fewer came to see me on trivial business.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Drink fewer liquids with meals. (references)
		You have fewer diet restrictions. (references)
		Asian-American women had fewer symptoms in general. (references)
Business		Industry reform will likely result in fewer producers of better quality machinery. (references)
		Guatemala has fewer than 600,000 telephones to serve a population of nearly 11 million. (references)
		In the past, European cars offered fewer accessory options than packages on American or Japanese models. (references)
Children	Bulgaria	Fewer girls than boys attended school, especially among minority groups. (references)
	Zimbabwe	In most regions of the country, fewer girls than boys attend secondary schools. (references)
	Uganda	There were fewer allegations of ritual killings of children, and there were no confirmed reports of such killings. (references)
Civil Liberties	Moldova	Most newspapers have a circulation of fewer than 5,000 copies. (references)
	Spain	Jews, Muslims, and Protestants have official status through bilateral agreements but enjoy fewer privileges. (references)
	Turkey	Radio stations that mix small amounts of Kurdish songs into their predominantly Turkish broadcasting appear to face fewer problems. (references)
Economic History	Bulgaria	In the banking sector, privatization has proceeded with fewer problems. (references)
	Colombia	It is estimated that there are fewer than fifty thousand lawless actors. (references)
	Belgium	IT departments will buy fewer computer systems, but are looking for global solutions. (references)
Human Rights	Bangladesh	Typically, fewer than 3 percent of detainees under this Act are convicted. (references)
	Belarus	Of these only 272, or fewer than 0.5 percent, were found to be not guilty. (references)
	Mozambique	However, in 2000 the LDH reported noticeably fewer minors held in detention nationwide. (references)
Indigenous People	Guatemala	Rural indigenous people have limited educational opportunities and thus have fewer employment opportunities. (references)
	Congo	There is a population of fewer than 10,000 Pygmies (Batwa), who are believed to have been the country's original inhabitants; societal discrimination against them continued. (references)
	Sri Lanka	The country's indigenous people, known as Veddas, number fewer than l,000. Some prefer to maintain their isolated traditional way of life, and they are protected by the Constitution. (references)
Minorities	Israel and the occupied territories	Arab citizens hold fewer than 60 of the country's 5,000 university faculty positions. (references)
	Bulgaria	Nevertheless there were fewer reported incidents of harassment of religious groups during the year. (references)
	Pakistan	Government authorities afford religious minorities fewer legal protections than are afforded to Sunni Muslim citizens. (references)
Political Economy	Uk	Fewer powers have been devolved to the Welsh Assembly. (references)
	ITALY	In firms with fewer than 15 workers, this choice is the employer's. (references)
	TURKEY	The Labor Law sets a 45 hour work week, although most unions have bargained for fewer hours. (references)
Political Rights	Pakistan	However, on election day far fewer registered women than registered men actually voted. (references)
	United Kingdom	As in the rest of the country, Northern Ireland has city and district councils but with fewer powers. (references)
	Singapore	A constitutional amendment assures at least three opposition members in Parliament even if fewer than three actually are elected. (references)
Trade	Russia	U.S. companies doing business in Russia may find the new tariff provisions and fewer base rates generally simplify business activities. (references)
	Philippines	The banking sector is comprised of 45 commercial, 111 thrift banks, and 787 rural banks with combined assets of pesos 3,207 billion (about $65 billion) as of end-March 2001. Although fewer in number, commercial banks dominate the banking sector, accounting for more than 90 percent of total banking system resources. (references)
Travel	Portugal	Porto serves fewer cities directly in the European Union, none in North America, but does serve major cities in Brazil. (references)
Women	Netherlands	Persons working fewer than 20 hours per week also are entitled to parental leave. (references)
	Belarus	Women have significantly fewer opportunities for advancement to the upper ranks of management. (references)
	Australia	This study also found that there were fewer female board members in both large and small companies than the previous year. (references)
Worker Rights	Cape Verde	In 2000 such cases involved fewer than 30 persons. (references)
	Mauritius	Many unions are small, having fewer than 1,000 members. (references)
	New Zealand	Unions represent fewer than 20 percent of all wage earners. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Dennis Miller	America is, in part, to blame, for the Third World's financial mismanagement because, for a long time, we would send them billions of dollars with fewer strings attached than Pinocchio after electrolysis.
Rush Limbaugh	Yet under CFR, there will be fewer checks and balances on this media because you won't be able to buy any commercial time to answer the charges that they make.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Bill Clinton	1993-2001	Every year fewer and fewer Americans even get to choose their doctors.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Fewer" is generally used as a determiner (general) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Fewer" is used about 3,098 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Determiner (general)	100%	3,098	3,027

Expressions using "fewer": fewer than ♦ no fewer than. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "fewer": ever-fewer.
	Containing "fewer": inn-fewer-ants.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "fewer"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		minder (less). (various references)

Chinese		较少 (less, lesser). (various references)

Danish		mindre (less). (various references)

Dutch		minder (less), min (affection, diminutive, less, little, love, minus, minute, nurse, small, wet nurse). (various references)

Esperanto		malpli (less). (various references)

Faeroese		minni (less, memory, recollection). (various references)

Finnish		siellä oli vähemmän kuin 10 henkeä (there were fewer than ten people). (various references)

French		moins de. (various references)

German		weniger (less, lesser). (various references)

Greek		λιγότερες, λιγότερα, λιγότεροι, λιγότερ. (various references)

Italian		meno (apart from, as little as, except, least, less, minus, not as ... as, not as much, not so, not so ... as, under, unless). (various references)

Manx		loo (least; affidavit, little, littler, oath, swear, swearing). (various references)

Papiamen		menos (less). (various references)

Pig Latin		ewerfay

Polish		mniej (less). (various references)

Portuguese		não poucos, menos (but, fewer than, least, less, less pollution, lesser, minus, wanting, with the exception of). (various references)

Russian		меньший меньше. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		manje (less). (various references)

Spanish		menos (apart from, besides, but, except, least, less, minus, other than, smaller). (various references)

Swedish		färre (less numerous). (various references)

Thai		น้อยกว่า (คำคุ�"ศัพท์ขั้นกว่าของ few), จำนวนน้อยกว่า. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	minus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Matthew Chapter 16, Verse 10
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Oude touV epta artouV twn tetrakisciliwn kai posaV spuridaV elabete
Latin	405	Vulgate	Neque septem panum quattuor milium hominum et quot sportas sumpsistis
Old English	990	West Saxon	& þare seofe hlafen. & fewer þusendemanne. & hu fele wilian ge namen?
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	Nether of seuene looues in to foure thousynde of men, and hou many lepis ye token?
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	Nether the .vii. loves when there were .iiiii.M. and how many baskettes toke ye vp?
Jacobean English	1611	King James	Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Victorian English	1833	Webster	Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Basic English	1964	Ogden	Or the seven cakes of bread of the four thousand, and the number of baskets you took up?
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Matthew Chapter 16, Verse 10
Bulgarian	Нито седемте хляба на четирите хиляди души, и колко кошници събрахте?
Cebuano	O sa pito ka tinapay alang sa upat ka libo, ug kon pila ka alat nga mga tipik ang inyong nahipos?
Croatian	I onih sedam kruhova na èetiri tisuæe i koliko košara nakupiste?
Danish	Ikke heller de syv Brød til de fire Tusinde, og hvor mange Kurve I da toge op?
Dutch	Noch aan de zeven broden der vier duizend mannen, en hoevele manden gij opnaamt?
Finnish	ettekä niitä seitsemää leipää neljälletuhannelle ja kuinka monta vasullista otitte talteen?
French	ni les sept pains des quatre mille hommes et combien de corbeilles vous avez emportées?
German	auch nicht an die sieben Brote unter die viertausend und wie viel Körbe ihr da aufhobt?
Hungarian	Sem a négyezernek hét kenyerére, és hogy hány kosárt töltöttetek meg?
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Dan bagaimana pula dengan tujuh roti untuk empat ribu orang itu? Berapa bakul kelebihan makanan yang kalian kumpulkan?
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Atau dari hal tujuh ketul roti bagi empat ribu orang, dan berapa bakul sisanya telah kamu angkat?
Italian	E neppure i sette pani per i quattromila e quante sporte avete raccolto?
Manx Gaelic	Ny er ny shiaght bwilleenyn ren magh ny kiare thousaneyn, as cre-woad baskad hrog shiu?
Maori	Ki nga taro hoki e whitu a nga mano e wha, ki te maha ano o nga kete i riro i a koutou?
Norwegian	eller de syv brød til de fire tusen, og hvor mange kurver I da fikk?
Portuguese	Nem dos sete pães para os quatro mil, e de quantas alcofas levantastes?
Rumanian	Nici de cele wapte pkni pentru cei patru mii de oameni, wi ckte cowniye ayi ridicat?
Russian	ОЙ П УЕНЙ ИМЕ�'БИ ОБ ЮЕФЩТЕ ФЩУСЮЙ, Й УЛПМШЛП ЛПТЪЙО ЧЩ ОБ�'ТБМЙ?
Spanish	¿Ni tampoco de los siete panes para los cuatro mil y cuántas cestas recogisteis?
Swahili	Au, ile mikate saba waliyogawiwa wale watu elfu nne, je, mlikusanya vikapu vingapi vya mabaki?
Swedish	Ej heller de sju bröden åt de fyra tusen, och huru många korgar I då togen upp?
Uma	Pai' beiwa wo'o hante roti to pitu meha' kupokoni' -raka tauna to opo' ncobu-e? Hangkuja luncu wo'o-pi toro-na to nirumpu?
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Misspellings
	"Fewer" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Afewerk, effer, fawor, feer, feier, femer, feower, Ferer, feuer, fewe, fewed, Fewers, fewo, fewter, Feyer, fezer, fiower, fowe, fower, fworr, iewer, jewer. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "fewer" (pronounced fyuw"er)
3	-y uw" er	ewer, Hewer, reviewer, skewer, viewer.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-e-f-r-w"
	-1 letter: ewer, fere, free, reef, weer, were.
	-2 letters: ere, ewe, fee, fer, few, ree, ref, wee.
	-3 letters: ef, er, re, we.
	Words containing the letters "e-e-f-r-w"
	+1 letter: reflew.
	+2 letters: freeway, wafered, welfare, whereof.
	+3 letters: beflower, crowfeet, deflower, farewell, fencerow, feverfew, fireweed, flowered, flowerer, floweret, foreknew, forewent, freeware, freeways, freewill, overflew, reflowed, reflower, wakerife, welfares, werewolf, wifelier.
	+4 letters: bedwarfed, beflowers, deflowers, delftware, farewells, fencerows, feverfews, feverwort, firepower, firewater, fireweeds, flowerage, flowerbed, flowerers, flowerets, flowerier, flowmeter, foreswear, foreswore, forewomen, freewares, freewheel, reflowers, superwife, waterleaf, wherefore, wherefrom, woefuller.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.