different between few vs different
few
English
Etymology
From Middle English fewe, from Old English f?aw (“few”), from Proto-Germanic *fawaz (“few”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old Saxon f? (“few”), Old High German fao, f? (“few, little”), Old Norse fár (“few”), Gothic ???????????????? (faus, “few”), Latin paucus (“little, few”) (whence English pauper, poor etc.). More at poor.
Pronunciation
- (UK)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fju?/
- (US) IPA(key): /fju/
- Rhymes: -u?
- Homophone: phew
Determiner
few (comparative fewer or less, superlative fewest or least)
- (preceded by another determiner) An indefinite, but usually small, number of.
- There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.
- I was expecting a big crowd at the party, but very few people (=almost none) turned up.
- Quite a few people (=a significant number) were pleasantly surprised.
- I think he's had a few drinks. [This usage is likely ironic.]
- (used alone) Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.
- (meteorology, of clouds) Obscuring one to two oktas (eighths) of the sky.
- NOAA definition of the term "few clouds": An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomena aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomena are surface-based, such as fog.
- (meteorology, of rainfall with regard to a location) (US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.
Usage notes
- Few is used with plural nouns only; its synonymous counterpart little is used with uncountable nouns.
- Although indefinite in nature, a few is usually more than two (two often being referred to as "a couple of"), and less than "several". If the sample population is say between 5 and 20, a few would mean three or four, but no more than this. However, if the population sample size were in the millions, "a few" could refer to several hundred items. In other words, few in this context means a very very small percentage but far more than the 3 or 4 usually ascribed to it in its use with much much smaller numbers.
- Few is grammatically affirmative but semantically negative, and it can license negative polarity items. For example, anything usually cannot be used in affirmative sentences, but can be used in sentences with few.
- He didn't do anything to help us.
- *He did anything to help us. (ungrammatical)
- Few people did anything to help us.
- *A few people did anything to help us. (ungrammatical, since a few is a different unit of meaning from few and does not license NPIs)
- Few alone emphasises smallness of number, while a few emphasises some. For example: He's a dull man with few ideas; He's a clever man with a few ideas.
Synonyms
- little (see usage)
Antonyms
- many
Derived terms
- a few
- a good few
- quite a few
Related terms
- paucity
- poor
Translations
Pronoun
few
- Few people, few things.
- Many are called, but few are chosen.
Antonyms
- many
Translations
References
- Meteorology (both senses)
- NOAA Glossary: f
Middle English
Determiner
few
- Alternative form of fewe
few From the web:
- what fewer means
- what few means
- what fewer
- what fewest mean
- what few days means
- what few companies own everything
- what few hours mean
- what few weeks means
different
English
Etymology
From Middle English different, from Old French different, from Latin differ?ns, present active participle of differ? (“I differ”); see differ.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?d?f.(?)?.?nt/
- Hyphenation: dif?fer?ent, diffe?rent
Adjective
different (comparative more different, superlative most different)
- Not the same; exhibiting a difference.
- 1915, Edward Knobel, Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars – A Revision of the Almagest, page 14 (showing that "to" was used by an Englishman in 1915)
- One interesting feature was remarked by Dr. Peters, viz.: that the instrument used for the longitudes of the original catalogue was graduated differently to that used for the latitudes.
- 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 6
- Enter the American tourist. He thinks of himself as a good guy but when he looks in the mirror to shave this good guy he has to admit that "well, other people are different from me and I don't really like them." This makes him feel guilty toward other people.
- 1915, Edward Knobel, Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars – A Revision of the Almagest, page 14 (showing that "to" was used by an Englishman in 1915)
- Various, assorted, diverse.
- 2006, Delbert S. Elliott et al., Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context,[1] Cambridge University Press, ?ISBN, page 19:
- In any case, poor black respondents living in high-poverty neighborhoods are most likely to view their neighborhood as a single block or block group and to use this definition consistently when asked about different neighborhood characteristics and activities.
- 2006, Delbert S. Elliott et al., Good Kids from Bad Neighborhoods: Successful Development in Social Context,[1] Cambridge University Press, ?ISBN, page 19:
- Distinct, separate; used for emphasis after numbers and other determiners of quantity.
- Unlike most others; unusual.
Usage notes
- (not the same): Depending on dialect, time period, and register, the adjective different (“not the same”) may be construed with one of the prepositions from, to, and than, or with the subordinating conjunction than.
- Pleasure is different from/than/to happiness.
- It's different than (or from what) I expected.
Synonyms
- (not the same): other; See also Thesaurus:different
- (various): sundry; See also Thesaurus:assorted
- (distinct): apart, distinct; See also Thesaurus:separate
- (unlike most others): aberrant, deviant, nonstandard; See also Thesaurus:strange
Antonyms
- (not the same): alike, identical, same, similar
- (various): homogeneous
- (distinct): coherent, indistinct, unified
- (unlike most others): normal, usual; See also Thesaurus:normal
- (all senses): undifferent
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Noun
different (plural differents)
- (mathematics) The different ideal.
Adverb
different (comparative more different, superlative most different)
- Differently.
Further reading
- different in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- different in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
German
Etymology
From Latin differ?ns.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [d?f????nt]
- Hyphenation: dif?fe?rent
Adjective
different (comparative differenter, superlative am differentesten)
- different
Declension
Further reading
- “different” in Duden online
Latin
Verb
different
- third-person plural future active indicative of differ?
Middle English
Alternative forms
- dyfferent
Etymology
From Old French different, from Latin differ?ns, present active participle of differ?; equivalent to differren (“to postpone”) +? -ent.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?dif?r?nt/, /di?f?r?nt/
Adjective
different (plural and weak singular differente)
- different
Related terms
- differently
Descendants
- English: different
- Scots: different
References
- “different, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-07-31.
different From the web:
- what different headaches mean
- what different emojis mean
- what different color hearts mean
- what differentiates extension from hyperextension
- what different poops mean
- what different crystals mean
- what different types of poop mean
- what differentiates knarls from hedgehogs
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