precious few
Also, precious little. Very few, very little, as in There are precious few leaves left on the trees, or We have precious little fuel left. In these idioms precious serves as an intensive, a colloquial usage dating from the first half of the 1800s.
Words Nearby precious few
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use precious few in a sentence
From a lyrical standpoint, there are precious few that can catch Kendrick.
The 14 Best Songs of 2014: Bobby Shmurda, Future Islands, Drake, and More | Marlow Stern | December 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThere are precious few large-scale, ambitious, original works.
Christopher Nolan Uncut: On ‘Interstellar,’ Ben Affleck’s Batman, and the Future of Mankind | Marlow Stern | November 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe fashioned BOB, the demon spirit who lived in the Black Lodge, but such an explanation satisfied precious few of us.
‘True Detective,’ Obsessive-Compulsive Noir, and ‘Twin Peaks’ | Jimmy So | March 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA precious few mature into serious actors, sustaining careers into adulthood.
There are precious few movies or TV series that you can call good adaptations of books.
Business men and some professional are the only ones that forge steadily ahead; with precious few exceptions.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonHe would not like his guests to feel bored at losing one of their precious few-and-far-between holidays.
The Girls of St. Olave's | Mabel MackintoshYes; I rather flatter myself there are precious few of my Contemporaries who care about my Work!
And as for leasing—leasing land they virtually own—no, there's precious few are doing that, thank God!
The Octopus | Frank Norrisprecious few new boarders come, and a good many of the old ones quit.
The Depot Master | Joseph C. Lincoln
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