not many, scarcely any, hardly any, less, sparse, scant, scanty, thin, scattered, straggling, widely spaced, inconsiderable, negligible, infrequent, sporadic, not too many, a few, a couple of, a small number of, some, any, scarce, rare, seldom, few and far between, in the minority; see also rare 2, several 1.

Antonyms many*, numerous*, innumerable.

not many, a small number, a handful, scarcely any, hardly any, not so many as one might expect, not too many, several, some, a scattering, a number that can be counted on one's fingers, three or four, a couple, a sprinkling, a smattering, a minority.

Antonyms many*, a multitude, a great many.

several, some, many, a large number; see plenty, several.