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

See Examples For:

precious few

Thompson’s screenplay used precious few lines from Austen’s novel; she preferred to mimic the author’s style.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

They salvaged precious few things: a clay figurine Missi and Frank had purchased on their honeymoon in Peru.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

With both now out of his way, there are precious few players left in the draw who have the experience of beating the Serb great in a Grand Slam setting.

From BBC ● May 28, 2026

The case for cuts simply isn’t there at the moment, and there are likely precious few Fed voters who would even consider such a step at this point.

From Barron's ● May 23, 2026

Many people will appear to befriend you when you are wealthy, but precious few will do the same when you are poor.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

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