What does the phrase a few mean?
Robert Bradley
Published May 25, 2026
.
Also, when you say a few What does that mean?
If you are talking about, say, six people or things, both a few and several are perfectly usable; but a few indicates that you don't really care how many exactly there are, just that there aren't that many, while several indicates that there are quite a few, at least according to what you might have expected.
Likewise, how many is a good few? “A good few” means “a fair number,” and “quite a few” and “not a few” both mean “a considerable number.” But to make a long story short, “few” has never been restricted to meaning three.
Similarly, you may ask, is a few 2 or 3?
Actually, no. While many people would agree that "a few" means three or more, the actual dictionary definition of "a few" is, "not many but more than one." So, "a few" cannot be one, but it can be as low as two.
How much is in a few?
A few could typically mean 2–9, since it generally means more than one yet less than ten (except when the ten is noted as some proportion of a much-larger set like 1,000 or 100,000). A couple should mean two but oftern means few.
Related Question Answers