In Mathematica 10 you can use AnyTrue
for this:
list ~Select~ AnyTrue[5 <= # <= 8 &]
{{7.64}, {4.21, 5.64}, {3.4, 5.11}, {3.13, 4.76, 6.5}, {7, 5, 3}}
You can also use VectorQ
and Not
:
Select[list, ! VectorQ[#, 5 > # || # > 8 &] &]
{{7.64}, {4.21, 5.64}, {3.4, 5.11}, {3.13, 4.76, 6.5}, {7, 5, 3}}
If aiming for speed consider purely numeric operations. Assuming all positive numbers as in your example you could use:
Pick[list, UnitStep[Max /@ Clip[list, {5, 8}, {-1, -1}]], 1]
{{7.64}, {4.21, 5.64}, {3.4, 5.11}, {3.13, 4.76, 6.5}, {7, 5, 3}}
Timings:
list = RandomReal[{0, 200}, {50000, 50}];
Select[list, AnyTrue[5 <= # <= 8 &]] // Timing // First
Select[list, ! VectorQ[#, 5 > # || # > 8 &] &] // Timing // First
Pick[list, UnitStep[Max /@ Clip[list, {5, 8}, {-1, -1}]], 1] // Timing // First
0.8736
1.5288
0.0156