Moderate vs Few - What's the difference?
moderate | few |
Not excessive; acting in moderation
* Jonathan Swift
Mediocre
Average priced; standard-deal
Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle.
* Walter
(US, politics) Having an intermediate position between liberal and conservative.
One who holds an intermediate position between extremes, as in politics.
To reduce the excessiveness of (something)
* Arbuthnot
* Spenser
To become less excessive
To preside over (something) as a moderator
To act as a moderator; to assist in bringing to compromise
(preceded by another determiner) An indefinite, but usually small, number of.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (used alone) Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.
(meteorology, of clouds) (US?) Obscuring one eighth to two eighths of the sky.
(meteorology, of rainfall with regard to a location) (US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.
As an adjective moderate
is not excessive; acting in moderation.As a noun moderate
is one who holds an intermediate position between extremes, as in politics.As a verb moderate
is to reduce the excessiveness of (something.As a determiner few is
an indefinite, but usually small, number of.As a pronoun few is
few people, few things.As a proper noun Few is
the pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain.moderate
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- moderate language
- a moderate Calvinist
- travelling at a moderate speed
- A number of moderate members managed to obtain a majority in a thin house.
- a moderate winter
- moderate showers
Derived terms
* moderately * moderatenessSynonyms
* See also * See alsoNoun
(wikipedia moderate) (en noun)- ''While the moderates usually propose political compromise, it's often only achieved when the extremists allow them so
- The moderates are the natural advocates of ecumenism against the fanatics of their churches.
Verb
(moderat)- to moderate rage, action, desires, etc.
- By its astringent quality, it moderates the relaxing quality of warm water.
- To moderate stiff minds disposed to strive.
- to moderate a synod
Synonyms
* (reduce excesses ) temperate * (preside ) arbitrate, chairDerived terms
* moderation * moderatingReferences
* * English heteronyms ----few
English
Determiner
A new prescription, passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
- I was expecting lots of people at the party, but very few''''' (=''almost none'') ''turned up. Quite a '''few''' of them'' (=''many of them'') ''were pleasantly surprised. I don't know how many drinks I've had, but I've had a '''few . [This usage is likely ironic.]
- NOAA definition of the term "few clouds": An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomenon aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomenon are surface-based, such as fog.
Usage notes
* (term) is used with plural nouns only; its synonymous counterpart (little) is used with nouns. * Although indefinite in nature, a few is usually more than two (two often being referred to as "a couple of"), and less than "several". If the sample population is say between 5 and 20, a few would mean three or four, but no more than this. However, if the population sample size were in the millions, "a few" could refer to several hundred items. In other words, few'' in this context means ''a very very small percentage but way over the 3 or 4 usually ascribed to it its use with much much smaller numbers. : (term) is grammatically affirmative but semantically negative, and it can license negative polarity items. For example, lift a finger usually cannot be used in affirmative sentences, but can be used in sentences with (term). *: He didn't lift a finger to help us. *: *He lifted a finger to help us. (ungrammatical) *: Few people lifted a finger to help us. *: *A few people lifted a finger to help us. (ungrammatical) *: *Fewer people lifted a finger to help us. (ungrammatical)Synonyms
* little (see usage)Antonyms
* manyDerived terms
* a few * quite a fewAntonyms
* manyReferences
* Meteorology (both senses) *:NOAA Glossary: f