Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

few and far between

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.13 in modern English

Syllables: few and -far -be-tween
IPA

31

Scrabble Score

16

Letters

4

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Rare and scarce; hard to find.

Example Sentences

"There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, and I have met several lamas, notably the Phodong Lama of Sikhim and others like him, men who were thoroughly capable, who acted up to their principles, and whom I thoroughly respected, but I am sorry to say such men were few and far between."
"On a line like the Santa Fe, in such desert country as that on the Chicago-Los Angeles main line through Arizona and New Mexico, stations are few and far between, and at many of them one or two employees are the only permanent staff."
"As with other railways, more Mk 1s are urgently required but disposals by BR are few and far between at present."
"The gear change never happened and although chances were few and far between in the second half it looked like below-par Arsenal would escape the DW Stadium with three points - especially when N'Zogbia was sent off with 12 minutes to play."

Etymology

Attested at least since the 17th century. Was originally reserved for physical objects, such as houses, appearing with wide gaps between, but today it is also applied to more abstract things. Being rare also implies that the average gaps between the objects are wide.

Inflected Forms

fewer and further between (comparative) fewer and farther between (comparative) fewest and furthest between (superlative) fewest and farthest between (superlative)

Phrases

thick and fast

Frequently Paired Words

thick and fast

Synonyms

thin on the ground deficient in short supply wanting lacking uncommon rare dearthy few and far between geason infrequent non-common

Antonyms

far and wide thick on the ground common widespread abundant ubiquitous

Questions

What does few and far between mean?: Rare and scarce; hard to find.
Where does few and far between come from?: Attested at least since the 17th century. Was originally reserved for physical objects, such as houses, appearing with wide gaps between, but today it is also applied to more abstract things. Being rare also implies that the average gaps between the objects are wide.

How to pronounce few and far between

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