Link Centre Dictionary

less

UK/lɛs/ US/ˈlɛs/ very common
adverb (2) adjective (4)

adverb

1.

used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs

  • “less interesting”
  • “less expensive”
  • “less quickly”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

comparative of little

  • “she walks less than she should”
  • “he works less these days”
Antonyms

adjective

1.

(comparative of `little'' usually used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree

  • “of less importance”
  • “less time to spend with the family”
  • “a shower uses less water”
  • “less than three years old”
Antonyms
2.

(usually preceded by `no'') lower in quality

  • “no less than perfect”
Similar
3.

(usually preceded by `no'') lower in esteem

  • “no less a person than the king himself”
Synonyms
Similar
4.

(nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer

  • “less than three weeks”
  • “no less than 50 people attended”
  • “in 25 words or less”
Similar

Origin

Adverb From Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣs (“smaller, less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, be gentle”). Cognate with Old Frisian lēs (“less”), Old Saxon lēs (“less”). According to Kroonen (2013), from a northern Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-, which he connects to Lithuanian liesas (“lean”). Determiner and preposition from Middle English lees, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣssa (“less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisizan-, from Proto-Germanic *laisiz (“smaller, lesser, fewer, lower”) (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian lessa (“less”). Verb from Middle English lessen, from the determiner. Noun from Middle English lesse, from the determiner.

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.