I found the following definitions of "quite a few" in dictionaries:
Merriam-Webster: many
Wiktionary: An indefinite and somewhat large number; more than a few but fewer than a lot; a fair number of.
Is "quite a few" less than "many"? My understanding is that "a lot" and "many" are synonyms. If that's the case, then the dictionary definitions above conflict. What's the actual meaning of this expression?
For example:
Note: I'm also curious about the origin of this expression. The last thing that a non-native English speaker would expect was that "quite" and "few" combined would result in "somewhat large number" or "many".
Best Answer
Quite a few expresses that the speaker was impressed or astonished by the number, as they would have expected less. Or the speaker wants to emphasize on the fact that it was "more than you would think".
Yet I do not think that there is an order involved that quite a few would be less than many. The intended effect is different. One could call it understatement.