precious few

Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

"While there are precious few universal paralogs that we know," says Goldman, "they can give us a lot of information about what life was like before the time of the last universal common ancestor."

From Science Daily • Feb. 10, 2026

Long-term injuries to Alexander Isak, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley have left Slot with precious few options both in defence and up front.

From Barron's • Jan. 25, 2026

Tess moves with a troop of kooky outer-borough women, leaving the musical with precious few intimate moments of thoughtful stillness.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2025

With costs rising, plus the aforementioned endowment tax, precious few universities could afford that.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 20, 2025

“Amos,” said Mr. Weasley loudly, “think about it. . . precious few wizards know how to do that spell. Where would she have learned it?”

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling