few and far between

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.

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few and far between (comparative fewer and further between or fewer and farther between, superlative fewest and furthest between or fewest and farthest between)

1. (idiomatic) Rare and scarce; hard to find.
   • 1909, John Claude White, Sikhim and Bhutan, page 15:

     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.

   • 1950 May, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 300:

     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.

   • 1979 August, Michael Harris, “A line for all reasons: the North Yorkshire Moors Railway”, in Railway World, page 414:

     As with other railways, more Mk 1s are urgently required but disposals by BR are few and far between at present.

   • 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:

     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.

• infrequent, scarce, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare

• thick and fast