LITTLE


Meaning of LITTLE in English

I. adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a big/little kiss

She put her arms around him and gave him a big kiss.

a bit more/less

Can we have a bit less noise, please?

a bit/little scared

I was always a little scared of my father.

a lesser evil (= a bad thing, but not as bad as something else )

She knew that she couldn't leave the children, so she opted for the lesser evil and stayed.

a lesser offence (= one that is not as serious as another offence )

For rioting you can receive ten years in prison, while for the lesser offence of violent disorder you can receive five years in prison.

a little bit

Everyone needs a little bit of encouragement.

a little bit

Aren’t you being a little bit unfair?

a little brother ( also a kid brother American English ) (= younger brother )

My kid brother was always annoying me.

a little chat

Why don’t you call her and have a little chat.

a little click

The neon sign made little clicks as it changed colour.

a little misunderstanding (= one that is not serious )

We need to clear up this little misunderstanding.

a little niche informal:

I feel as if I've found my little niche in life.

a little scream

Mrs Wood gave a little scream.

a little secret (= a personal secret that very few people know )

You must promise me that this will be our little secret.

a little talk

I’m glad we’ve had this little talk.

a little town

a pretty little town in the French Alps

a little walk

I just felt like a little walk.

a little/a bit nervous

I was a little nervous before the interview.

a little/faint/slight smile

She gave him an apologetic little smile.

a little/kid sister (= a younger sister )

She was very fond of her little sister.

a little/many/some/any more

Can I have a little more time to finish?

Are there any more sandwiches?

a little/minor mistake

The essay was full of little mistakes.

a little/minor mystery

It was a minor mystery how the file had survived the fire.

a little/short rest

He decided to stop and take a short rest.

a little/short sleep

I always have a little sleep in the afternoon.

a little/short while ago

Tom got a letter from him just a little while ago.

a little/short while

Wait a little while before deciding.

a little/slightly unfair ( also a bit unfair British English spoken )

You’re being slightly unfair on him.

a little/slightly worried ( also a bit worried British English )

I was a bit worried about my exams.

a little/small sigh

Quinn let out a little sigh and closed the book.

a little/small/tiny creature

tiny creatures such as mice

a little/somewhat/slightly surprised

He was a little surprised by her request.

a little/tiny bit

The floor was covered in tiny bits of glass.

a short/little nap

A short nap may make you feel better.

a short/little/small laugh

He let out a nervous little laugh.

a small/little cry

The child gave a small cry and burst into tears.

a small/little favour

Can you do me a small favour?

a small/little movement

She made a restless little movement.

at least one occasion (= once, and probably more than once )

On at least one occasion he was arrested for robbery.

be little/no consolation

The fact that there has been a reduction in crime is little consolation to victims of crime.

be (little/no) room for optimism (= have a possibility that things might get better )

There is little room for optimism in the current financial situation.

be more so/less so/too much so

The band is popular and likely to become more so.

Jerry is very honest, perhaps too much so.

be of little/no importance

Where the money came from is of no importance.

bear little/no resemblance to sb/sth

He bore little resemblance to the photograph in the newspaper.

bear no/little relationship to sth

The allegations bore no relationship to the facts.

could at least

You could at least say that you’re sorry.

dirty little

you and your dirty little deals

far more/less

I enjoyed it far more than I expected.

(far/rather/a little) too much

There was too much work for one person.

It would cost far too much to have the thing repaired.

have little to eat (= not have enough food )

The refugees had very little to eat and no clean water.

have little/no incentive to do sth

Poor farmers have little incentive to grow crops for export.

have little/no patience with sb

I'm afraid I have little patience with bureaucrats and their official rules.

have little/no reason to complain

The school is good and parents have little reason to complain.

have more/less luck

I hope you have more luck in the next competition.

have no/little alternative (but to do sth)

He had no alternative but to resign.

have no/little doubt

I have no doubt that you are right.

have no/little option but to do sth (= have no other choice than to do something )

I had no option but to fire him.

have some/no/little credibility

By then the president had ceased to have any credibility.

have some/no/little say in sth

The workers had no say in how the factory was run.

higher/larger/less etc than normal

The journey took longer than normal.

hold (little) interest/appeal/promise etc

Many church services hold little appeal for modern tastes.

just/a little short of sth

She was just short of six feet tall.

least worst

Often it’s a question of choosing the least worst option.

leave no/little doubt (that) (= make people sure or almost sure about something )

The evidence left no doubt that he was the murderer.

less advantaged

Some of the boys come from less advantaged backgrounds.

less than perfect (= not perfect )

So many excellent writers, for example Byron and Keats, were less than perfect spellers.

less well-off (= have less money )

Many pensioners are less well-off than they used to be.

less/least likely

The smallest puppies are the least likely to survive.

less/least likely

The smallest puppies are the least likely to survive.

limited/little opportunity (= not many chances )

They had little opportunity to discuss the issue beforehand.

little boy (= young male child )

What a polite little boy you are.

little boy (= young son )

How old is your little boy ?

Little Britain

little detail (= not much detail )

Maps of the area showed little detail.

Little did...know (= she did not know )

Little did she know that years later she would have her own pool and luxury apartment in Florida.

little enthusiasm (= not much enthusiasm )

In the nearby villages, there’s little enthusiasm for the airport.

little extras

It’s got lots of useful little extras .

little finger

little foibles

We all have our little foibles .

little kid

She’d always loved animals since she was a little kid .

little people

It’s the little people who bear the brunt of taxation.

little regard (= not enough regard )

He drove himself on, with little regard for his own health.

little reward

They have to work very hard for very little reward.

little scally

You rude little scally !

little significance

This information on its own is of little significance.

little/a lot of/no persuading

He took a lot of persuading to come out of retirement it was hard to persuade him .

little/lower/high/greater etc likelihood

There was very little likelihood of her getting the job.

little/no success

Attempts to resolve the dispute met with little success.

little/small/minor

Old cars often develop minor engine problems.

little/small/tiny

He lived all his life in a small cottage by the river.

little/small/young girl

I’ve known Mollie ever since I was a little girl.

lovely little

He was a lovely little boy.

more/less fortunate than sb

We’ve been more fortunate than a lot of farmers.

more/less frequent

Her headaches are becoming less frequent.

more/most/less/equally importantly

Most importantly, you must keep a record of everything you do.

nasty little

You’re a nasty little brute!

no/little/not much chance

The prisoners knew there was little chance of escape.

not hold out much hope/hold out little hope

Negotiators aren’t holding out much hope of a peaceful settlement.

not in the least bit

I’m not in the least bit interested in whose fault it is.

not matter much/matter little

I don’t think it matters much what you study.

of little value

The information was of little value.

or at least

We’ve cleaned it all up, or at least most of it.

puny little

a puny little guy

quite a bit more/less

They’re worth quite a bit more than I thought.

rotten little

a rotten little brat

see little/no merit in sth (= think that something is not a good idea )

I can see no merit in violence.

see more/less of sb (= see someone more or less often )

They’ve seen more of each other since Dan moved to London.

slightly overweight/a little overweight ( also a bit overweight )

He was tall and slightly overweight.

He’s a bit overweight, not too much.

slightly/a little embarrassed

Tom looked slightly embarrassed when his name was called out.

small/little

It’s a small island, barely twenty miles long.

small/little/tiny

They come from a small village in Laos.

some/a little/a long way ahead

The clinic was now in sight, some way ahead.

sth happens when you least expect it

Bad luck tends to happen when you least expect it.

sth is one of life’s (little) mysteries (= it is something that you will never understand – used humorously )

Where socks disappear to after they’ve been washed is one of life’s little mysteries.

the little guy American English (= ordinary people rather than a powerful organization such as a government or a large company )

He wanted to get elected and fight for the little guy.

there is no/little/some doubt (= used to talk about how sure people are about something )

There is little doubt that he will play for England one day.

tiny little

a tiny little baby

to a lesser extent ( also to less extent ) (= less )

The same is true for women, though to a lesser extent.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

as

Moving himself as little as possible, Chick leant forward and pressed a button.

Which as a practical matter is usually about twelve years and can be as little as eight.

But if they do not leave, he said, ecological disaster could be as little as five or 10 years away.

These sets are no bigger than a transistor radio and cost as little as $ 100 at the nearby discount electronics store.

He waited until she had closed the door then went back up, making as little noise as possible.

Flipping a thousand bunches can earn a worker as little as $ 30.

Mr Guerin's lawyer said he had advised Mr Guerin to say as little as possible for the time being.

Subscribers also need to buy a special device that costs as little as $ 20.

relatively

Even when it is in session it devotes relatively little energy to the serious scrutiny and debate of government policy.

Of his formal education we know relatively little .

And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.

The puppy will then settle in with relatively little difficulty as a member of the family.

Research has reflected relatively little success in teaching moderation to severely dependent alcoholics.

These facts and figures added relatively little to what was already known in outline.

As a result, import prices rise relatively little even when the dollar plunges.

so

The apathy of the people towards unemployment was one of the things that caused so little notice to be taken of it.

These people here have so little conception of our world that sometimes I feel myself as if I must have dreamed it.

She must have passed out, but then she had drunk so little .

Most of us are like sleepwalkers here, because we notice so little .

It may well be the reason why this motility pattern has previously attracted so little attention.

So many stories, so little time.

Or are we perhaps just a little surprised that it should take so little to set nation against nation.

too

Too much there or too little ?

But that would be too little too late.

By the time the mare impacts occurred there would probably have been too little dust available to fill the maria.

Although the licensing agreement is good news for Apple, some wonder whether it is too little , too late.

Surely there'd been too little time, but then her father wouldn't have needed much time, would he?

Conversely, there might be too little capacity for decisive action in a cabinet system when there is no stable majority.

Too much time was spent on systems considerations and too little on financial management.

The question is whether it is too little too late.

very

At any time, very little visiting took place and the women were always alone.

The rich supposedly think otherwise -- and manage to pay very little .

When Roeder began he found very little material and much that was written erroneously, even in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Each is a hermetically sealed universe, bumping off the others with very little cross-pollination.

The great course has changed very little since then.

There would be very little potential in the relationship.

We used to live in this poky flat in the middle of London when I was very little .

The thin carbon dioxide atmosphere on Mars admits sunlight to the surface with very little attenuation.

■ NOUN

attention

Relatively little attention has been paid to the origins of labouring class poetry.

I paid little attention to him.

It may well be the reason why this motility pattern has previously attracted so little attention .

We spend little time on peers' expectations, for the managers devoted little attention to them.

When connected and adjusted, an air pump needs very little attention .

One of his great failings was paying too little attention to the daily news.

Yet television paid relatively little attention to them.

It was a loaner from a manufacturer and had received little attention from the borrowers ahead of me.

bit

We have even found ourselves teaching a little bit of linguistics, since some of the comrades seemed interested.

I got hit a little bit with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.

She didn't like any of this, not one little bit .

A little bit of sleep was the nearest thing to consolation left for people like us.

While climbing the last little bit I couldn't help thinking of all the mates who had been killed.

At first we got a little bit of static from nonparents.

I prefer to talk a little bit .

I had to make minor adjustments, moving the steering wheel a little bit this way, a little bit that way.

boy

He was unable to find work and went back to the North to be near his little boy .

The little boy was too innocent to realize the implications of telling adults what they want to hear rather than the truth.

Forget Sophie, who was given to drama and tantrum anyway, what about Ben, my little boy ?

Even the little boys polished their groins when she clipped by on the sidewalk.

It was something of a shock to him to realize how fond of the little boy he had become.

B.. Once there was a little boy whose name was Henry.

But then they were just two little boys .

The little boy laughed and ran back to where she was sitting.

brother

On that occasion it was my little brother Jerry who shone.

They look like big brother and little brother.

It was Tess who worried and worked and felt responsible for her little brothers and sisters.

He had gone on an expedition with his little brother to a discount shopping mall in Reading, Pennsylvania.

He had been seeking out the spot on which his little brother was strangled and we had encountered the murderer there.

She is also mean to my little brother .

Francis, my husband, was like a little brother to me.

And little brother Ernest would follow.

chance

If there are six people walking abreast there is little chance that they will create an avenue for you to go through.

This leaves little chance of obtaining job satisfaction.

He believes that there is little chance of him finding a job in the near future.

Despite their gains of recent weeks, opposition leaders acknowledge that they have little chance of toppling the Khartoum government by force.

But that process would be complicated, and stands little chance of success.

The women had claimed they were channeled into low-paying jobs with little chance for promotion.

Without a theatrical release in their own domestic market, they stood little chance of recouping the money lavished on them.

Or are the few crabs that we see so voracious that any new recruit stands little chance of survival?

child

Suffer the little children ...

The little child , the wood dove, was going under.

There were several families under the trees now, with little children running around and babies crawling about in the grass.

The little child did not look dead at all.

Shoals of little children reach up to this counter with hot handfuls of change.

But you sleep softly, little child , Sunk deep in rest within your cheerless home, Only a box, brass-bound.

It went faster and with more noise than the roundabouts for little children with engines and ducks and bicycles fixed on.

On her second morning in Motijhil she found five little children waiting for her.

difference

This little difference adds up to a large saving.

It was that hour of dusk when the streetlights and headlights come on but make little difference .

They drag on from generation to generation and emigration to Britain makes very little difference .

The pressing seemed to make little difference and only with the extended salting times.

There is little difference between the two.

At the time it made little difference what it might be since I glided in and out of consciousness throughout the procedure.

Amongst Sun readers, there was little difference between Labour and Conservative identifiers in their perceptions of its anti-Labour, pro-Conservative bias.

The adults would take turns staying awake and fanning those sleeping, but this made little difference .

doubt

There is little doubt that their handwriting skills develop at a slower pace than their linguistic skills.

But there was little doubt that the Chiangs were somewhere in the background.

There seems to be little doubt , however, that the development of the form imbricata is determined genetically.

There is little doubt that this man deserved to die.

There is little doubt that the effectiveness of the strike was greatly impaired by its internal difficulties and external opposition.

There is little doubt that those Roman writers who equate slaves with concubines were telling the truth.

There is little doubt that the effect would be to drastically reduce the number of generic substitutes supplied by pharmacists.

There seems to be little doubt that work-inhibited students have limited faith in their ability to persevere in academic life.

evidence

And there appears to be little evidence that that will occur soon.

Long-term studies on mortality showed that there was little evidence to believe that losing weight will prolong your life, either.

The other grave goods provide what little evidence we have for the economic basis and material culture of its population.

Until recently, most studies found little evidence that job turnover was on the rise.

These suppositions are rejected because there is little evidence to support them.

There is little evidence of economic outcomes.

There is regrettably little evidence to support or to challenge this.

As yet, there is little evidence to support this conclusion.

finger

Margaret offered Maura her little finger with a shy smile.

The last thing he did was bite off the little finger of her left hand.

The little finger is not used in harp-playing.

Before long, Jennifer has Carlos wrapped around her little finger .

I use it on my little finger and my fingers are real thin.

I gave a little finger wave and he waved back.

He nodded politely to Wakelate and took the glass of brandy with a crooked little finger .

The green eyes and brown summer skin and slim legs and shapely little fingers .

girl

Eva was only two then, and all I could think was that he'd stolen my little girl .

One day the serious little girl brought him a small mirror, much cracked.

Why not settle in, raise your little girl , sign up for the concert and drama series.

She was a little girl who lived across from Ali's old Louisville home when he was at the top.

The little girl lit another match.

You're just an ordinary little girl .

When she called me a little girl , I remember I wanted to cry.

help

At present very little help can be given to such enquirers.

Center Ray Ferraro made it 2-0 with a little help from Verbeek.

And with a little help from its friends, the big multinational companies and landowning farmers, it is spreading its roots.

There are only challenged people, who with a little help can be just like everyone else.

Paul Reece keeping out Bobby Barnes, with a little help from the cross-bar.

With little help from her father, she raised the younger children and saw them all through college.

The concept of responsibility offers little help .

Both programs are the product of congresses dominated by Democratic liberals, with little help from Republicans.

hope

There's little hope in this film - the forces of law are as bad in their way as the drug barons.

The Standing was in its ninth month, and there seemed little hope of compromise.

And there was little hope that government intervention would bring about a more flexible cinema industry.

It may seem to some of you that there's very little hope left for us in Krishnapur.

Bloodied but unwilling to give up, he has little hope of winning Florida or any of the Southern state primaries Tuesday.

If that is right, there is little hope unless they can quickly persuade people to start buying again.

Around me I could find little hope ....

interest

At first sight these distinctions may seem of little interest to the archaeologist.

They had little interest in matching the four-year, $ 4. 5 million contract the Florida Marlins threw at Hernandez.

The Government has no little interest in this as the negative food trade gap is about £5.7 billion.

With fuel cheap these days, the market has shown little interest in the issue.

Increasingly high standards favour the larger wealthy companies that have little interest in tropical diseases.

An angry crowd gathered, confronting the police, who showed little interest in dispersing them, and began taunting the marshals.

Those involved in the experimental approach to athletics showed little interest in boosting performance.

They show as little interest in their customers as do the worst government bureaucracies.

kid

Me and this little kid of 12.

Even that, the poor little kid didn't like.

Will: For little kids it was better as a puppet show.

A group of little kids were doing what is called the Carrot Dance, over by the groceries.

The little kids seemed to like it.

Oh yes, one of her sons has leukaemia, poor little kid , hasn't he?

Last week, we got a little kid outfitted with glasses.

man

The impatience of the genius with the follies of littler men gives thrust and venom to Swift's satirical output.

It tickles me to see the little man so happy with him-self.

The little man nodded his bald head, his eyes simple as a child's.

A chubby little man in a short-sleeved sport shirt and baggy gray twill pants came out the door.

In Cowley's opinion, the arrogant little man should be invited to leave the country in the very near future indeed.

Before them stood a little man about the same size as the Munchkins.

Before he could, the little man brought out a small laser pistol from a pouch at his belt.

Walking in front of Converse was a little man called the Caporal who carried a Browning automatic rifle decorated with hibiscus.

room

It was a dismal little room .

I went back to my dark little room .

The codes of governments and religions are usually quite explicit and allow little room for diversity or change.

I went to my little room and did not turn on the light.

She could see partly into the little room at the end of the main tunnel.

There was another little room , the Quiet Room, plain concrete block walls without chairs or windows.

Now this little room was subdivided into a dressing area and a cement-floored shower.

The present world has little room for such quaint people.

sister

There was a lot of deep feeling in his little sister , Joe thought, in spite of her gaiety and light-heartedness.

Hold on a minute, little sister .

She and Nick, and a few tough-looking boys, and an ugly girl with a squint who had two little sisters .

Fifi and Carmencita watched while Mundin unwrapped the snake from around his neck and poked one end at his little sister .

His little sister had sickened and died before her second birthday.

His little sister gripped a shoot of fuchsia bougainvillea and wailed.

She was very fond of her little sister , so pretty, so volatile, so amusing.

We called my little sister Face because she had such a pretty one.

smile

And Judge Lawrence Verney allowed himself a wry little smile .

I gave in to that little smile .

And Katie would give a smug little smile and then whisper about it half the night.

It is just a little smile , and it fades fast.

They only gazed back at us with eerie little smiles .

A little smile , out of focus at the edge of my vision.

Nicolo Sabatini permitted himself a little smile .

I prompted, and he found my name and checked it off, turning to me with a cheering little smile .

thing

It's an absurd little thing really and yet somehow or other it's important.

They are little things that snowball against the weaker team until the contest becomes no contest.

It was the little things that disturbed him.

But there were frequent little things he did in speech that irritated me.

Lots of little things have been suggested.

He was so good in every department, they figured it would be easy for him to learn this one little thing .

Inchbad was pleased to see Fenella, pretty little thing , approach them.

Well now, one surely would have thought that for such little things those great big waves might have seemed threatening.

things

It's the little things in life really.

They are little things that snowball against the weaker team until the contest becomes no contest.

The witness began to cry, and said they had a quilt and other little things .

My husband continues to lie about little things , such as what he spent money on or where he had lunch.

I cost him a lot in little things , but I know he wants me to ask for something big.

Such little things , snow in July, are indelible.

There were a lot of little things that I felt were wrong.

We take the little things serious, and the big ones as a joke.

time

So much remained to do, and he had so little time in which to do it.

But Republicans and Democrats are wasting little time in maneuvering for political advantage.

When I make the stake-out it takes too little time .

Everywhere there is a hurry, and little time for dallying, or grieving.

What he was asking her to do required a degree of trust that he had too little time to earn.

Promoting literacy, then, will be Hass' calling for the next two years, leaving him little time to compose.

Ironically, the sublime progress of Knight and Singh left little time for the real enforcers.

Lamar Alexander, who spent little time in the state, got only 7 percent of the vote.

town

This can be done by direct road, passing through a number of attractive little towns on the way.

Coming from a little town like Westfield, we were all accepted.

Le Palais, where the ferry docks, is an agreeable, unspoilt little town of ancient houses and cobbled squares.

The little town crowns a low plateau just out of reach of the flood plain of the nearby Deerfield River.

A mile or so north of Milford is the little town of Belper.

Hard to believe, but Oro Valley was actually just a nice little town prior to becoming a sprawling, master-planned community.

Take, for example, the attack on the little town of Gibeah in Judges 20.

I was raised in upstate New York in a little town called Rome.

while

I can't stay but a little while .

Every now and then there are ledges I can rest on and even enjoy myself for a little while .

A little while on my own.

At least for a little while .

Concentrating on Emma would help to keep her worries at bay for a little while .

A little while after Castro came in.

A little while later he gave his horses a rest, and returned to the spot they had refused to pass.

He came down from Massachusetts for a little while and paid a call on Whitman in Brooklyn.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at the (very) least

But, at the very least , we want to be cut in on the deal.

Each tier was held in place by tiny press studs which sprang apart at the least pressure.

He threw noisy tantrums at the least provocation.

I suppose I had expected anger, an outburst of violence, at the very least surprise and furious disbelief.

I was sure, at the very least , that diet does had done thousands of women like me no good.

Obviously, organic does signify better, or at the least an improvement, but the buyer must beware.

People's lives could be at stake, or at the very least their futures.

That there should be, at the least , periodic review.

(it's) no/small/little wonder (that)

a (proper) little madam

She was madam , all right, a proper little madam.

a big fish in a little/small pond

a little bird told me (sth)

a little something

Before that, and this should tell you a little something , it was not much more attractive for Stanford.

Can yet give us a little something now, Morreen.

Let me just tell you a little something !

Mrs Fanning also stood up and said she could stand to leave behind a little something .

Pawlowski knows a little something about horsepower.

So I thought, a little push, a little shove, a little something extra to shake it loose.

This time aliens stop by for a visit and leave a little something , um, behind.

Well, I ate a little something in my room earlier.

a nice little earner

Bethlehem will always be a nice little earner .

However worthy his motives, the good doctor is on a nice little earner .

It has become, let's face it, a nice little earner .

Some of the nurses found it a nice little earner on top of their poor weekly pay.

That would be a nice little earner for us.

With an eye for a nice little earner , Del Trotter dictated his letter of application to chief sports writer Roy Collins.

at least

At least fifty people were waiting in line.

At least you should listen to his explanation.

His name is Kevin. At least that's what he told me.

His parents should at least go to his graduation.

The food was terrible, but at least we had a nice view.

The law has changed, at least as far as I know.

Everyone on the Cardinals' roster should be here for at least part of the minicamp.

For the time being, at least , the Falls was safe.

It goes against calls from the London Chamber of Commerce which wants at least 1000 more free parking spaces for bikes.

Lastly, they want to give tax advantages to causes deemed worthy, or at least popular.

That would mean at least $ 7. 28 an hour in wages and benefits.

There are at least four companies, perhaps five, that would like to start a 24-hour news channel.

To all appearances, it kept a grip on at least 30 million Muslimsmore than the entire population of the Maghreb today.

Unless I see at least a hint of contour, I assume a crotch has been padded.

be nothing less than sth

Japan's economic recovery was seen as nothing less than a miracle.

They way they treat their workers is nothing short of barbaric.

But of course to Miss Hoity Toity Grenfell, it was nothing less than she expected.

He come to the remarkable conclusion that Ardakke was nothing less than the setting for the next evolutionary step for mankind.

In such context, between such gilt-lettered cloth-bound boards, the concession was nothing less than munificent.

It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

Learn each week in 60 seconds why fashion is nothing less than a full-time job!

Milosevic is nothing less than a traitor.

The experience of being on Iona is nothing less than magical and I am moved to tears.

The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

black/elegant etc (little) number

good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc

in a world of your own/in your own little world

in less than no time

it's the least I can do

last but not least

Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife for her support.

Last but not least, let me introduce Jane, our new accountant.

And last but not least, I thank Begona Canup for her interest in the book.

Social Security has reduced poverty, and last , but by no means least, it has been a good deal for participants.

And last but not least, the baby of the family.

And last but not least, there are all those damn kids sharing files and scaring the media moguls shiftless.

And, last but not least, its growth and production has a huge impact on the environment we live in.

And, last but not least, my cousin Bishop Malduin of Kinrimund with, no doubt, his stepson Colban.

And, last but not least, they might re-read the scores while listening.

least of all

Dave doesn't take anything seriously, least of all himself.

Nobody wants to stop you from following the career of your choice, least of all me.

She told no one, least of all her husband, what she planned to do.

James was no model of deportment anywhere, least of all in his marital and other personal relations.

Life is no bed of roses for the new dealer, least of all if female and of a gullible disposition.

No one thought it was a goal of mine, least of all me.

Nobody, least of all the chancellor, one suspects, is banking on this.

Not least of all, it is the San Diego neighborhood that many gays have long embraced as their own.

They were not people who smiled much, least of all at children.

This wasn't yet a case for the police, least of all for him.

Truth is, no one has laughed at the inconsistent Campbell lately, least of all the Nets.

leave little/nothing to the imagination

His creation left nothing to the imagination .

Plastics - that here leave little to the imagination - were widely used in fashion.

less and less

The fighting has become less and less frequent.

They began spending less and less time with each other.

As the war progressed, this position be-came less and less tenable and was eventually discarded.

Changes over the course of 250 years meant that realities accorded less and less with formal appearances and official regulations.

However, they are less and less willing either to hide or to lead lives of celibacy.

It is merely that there is less and less justification for her position.

It turned out not to be much-and, as it happened, he needed less and less as time went on.

Now I seem to care less and less.

She liked the mail-order concept, saying that working women have less and less time to shop at stores.

Staff were separated less and less from pupils; they used the same library and the same resource centres.

less and less

As the war progressed, this position be-came less and less tenable and was eventually discarded.

Changes over the course of 250 years meant that realities accorded less and less with formal appearances and official regulations.

However, they are less and less willing either to hide or to lead lives of celibacy.

It is merely that there is less and less justification for her position.

It turned out not to be much-and, as it happened, he needed less and less as time went on.

Now I seem to care less and less.

She liked the mail-order concept, saying that working women have less and less time to shop at stores.

Staff were separated less and less from pupils; they used the same library and the same resource centres.

less of sth

less than helpful/honest/enthusiastic etc

Although he did not reject a fact-finding mission outright, Major was clearly less than enthusiastic about the idea.

But in the same interview Mr Dole, as is his way, was a little less than helpful to the president.

But the way in which they are present may be less than helpful.

In this dilemma, Eliot was less than helpful to his apologists.

Not surprisingly, the reaction of local residents to the schemes was less than enthusiastic.

The refugees are naturally less than enthusiastic about this.

Those who had known him from that earlier period, however, were less than enthusiastic about his elevation.

lesser/ordinary/mere mortals

A penchant for setting oneself apart and above mere mortals .

And together we were emphatically co-operative that neighbouring forces were populated by lesser mortals .

However, such models of the universe are not of much interest to us ordinary mortals .

Lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses figure prominently among the names as well as more ordinary mortals of obviously substantial means.

Miracles can be worked by Him alone, although mere mortals may entreat Him by prayer to perform them on their behalf.

She held herself raised by her great prosperity above all that ordinary mortals fear and reverence.

This increased exposure allows them to exploit their advantages over more ordinary mortals more easily than their predecessors could.

little horror

And that little horror Zach was around.

little/old devil

A true old devil , Manson vanishes in a puff of smoke.

I really miss the old devil .

Impotent old devils and dried-up hags always deride the efforts of the young.

Indeed, I worship the little devil , but only as a travelling companion.

Not that he's the worst of them, poor old devil .

So much, thought Blanche, for flirting with the lascivious old devil .

There was one old devil with red eyes.

little/young ones

As Jack goes on hunting, the little ones look at him as an expert.

Bowel frequency, for example, was little greater in the older patients than in the younger ones .

Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Helping with academic or social tasks, the older children develop a sense of responsibility for the younger ones in the building.

Mr Preston had recently cleared out his old trees and planted new young ones .

Older respondents tend to state their replies in honorifics; younger ones are less reverential.

The older kids were at school and two of the women had taken the younger ones to the park.

They were thinking of wives and little ones far away, and wondering if they would ever see them again.

more haste less speed

more or less

"Did they have what you were looking for at the hardware store?" "Yes, more or less."

There were 50 people there, more or less.

This report says more or less the same thing as the previous one.

What she says is more or less true.

Alexei was a mining engineer in the Kuzbas, but he had more or less refashioned himself into a translator.

And then I was using it more or less daily for years ....

As things are, it's more or less useless.

Lesbians, being women, were more or less ignored as in-consequential so long as they were quiet about their sexuality.

Look also for R Centauri, a red Mira-type variable more or less between the Pointers.

Some programs will let you set the size of the buffer to keep more or less text.

The Trilogy helped create this new man of labor, who is more or less a paralegal.

This time she saw pebbles laid out over the whole of the surface, more or less evenly spaced.

more than a little

Educators, meanwhile, often view business with more than a little suspicion, distrust, and envy.

Gordon was, he admitted, more than a little relieved.

He was more than a little disappointed that his son was not athletic.

It may be no more than a little park near work or a church that you stop by during lunch hour.

Love: the word would be utterly meaningless in this context; no more than a little blast of sound.

Many of these ideas depend more than a little on what you believe in.

The ex-boyfriend is more than a little interested.

much less

I doubt Clemson will even make the finals, much less win.

Even Libertarians, who advocate much less government, are happy to accept public campaign money.

Even today, most politicians rarely wear neckties, much less power suits.

I will become much less easily tired ... much less easily fatigued ... much less easily discouraged ... much less easily depressed.

In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.

Its development costs are not much less than the firm's total asset value.

That had to ne injected daily, but her husband recalls the injections being much less frequent.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is much less assured.

Try dowsing without rods: it's much less cumbersome.

much/still less

The average person is unlikely to pick up this type of book, much less read it.

Equally, science would be much less advanced than it is if the only available data were intuitive estimates of quantities.

Half a century earlier his behaviour would have seemed much more normal and aroused much less criticism.

In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.

On the battlefield armament was still much less important than discipline and fighting spirit.

She could not afford the bus fare to see a doctor, much less his fee.

The grouping of other languages of the world-and even of their number-is much less clear.

There is not much chance of finding a razor blade, much less using it in the appropriate way.

There was to be no pause for reflection, nor - much less - for a changeover from military to civilian rule.

no less

And if his comparison was contrived, it is no less valid for that.

And now ... Ace's face was no less expressive.

Housman's style is no less vulnerable to the distortions of the rhymed quatrain.

It is no less barbaric than killing people on a street corner.

One could remain in life, in the selfless performance of secular tasks, and arrive no less securely at the goal.

This helped Airtours generate no less than £8m in interest alone during the year.

Yet priorities are no less a matter of concern here than in other areas.

not least

There are many factors which limit productivity; not least is employee education.

Alex Ferguson will have loved this, not least because questions had started to be asked of his team and star names.

And it annoyed her intensely, not least of all because she still felt a long way from figuring him out!

And last but not least , the baby of the family.

I didn't relish this: not least because it meant that I didn't break my silence until the cheese course.

Like all good music it speaks of love, not least of the medium itself.

Nevertheless it requires separate assessment, not least because it drew on certain areas of experience not directly dominated by the monarch.

not the least/not in the least/not the least bit

nothing less than sth

The change in Bob's behavior has been nothing less than a miracle.

He is aware that what he is involved in now is nothing less than Thatcherite self-help.

It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

It is nothing less than national economic and social suicide.

The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

There is nothing less than a cultural cover-up about depression in men.

They had stumbled in upon what was quite clearly nothing less than a pagan sacrifice.

This gave her hope, for it was nothing less than a re-birth that Maggie was aiming for.

of little/no/any etc consequence

Choosing the gender of your baby is an individual decision of no consequence to anybody else.

During the bad weather we experienced a few disasters and events, but they were of little consequence .

It clearly ranks as the first written literature of any consequence .

Neither country had other exports of any consequence .

No signal can be received outside that range but this is of no consequence .

They were of no consequence , I knew they were of no consequence.

of no/little account

Gelbspan's speech was of no account .

As she grew up, her father had been of no account to her.

Charles Coffin continues: The cavalry of the Army of the Potomac had been of little account .

Epictetus' magic wand can make poverty of no account .

In a transforming instant, the est intellectual truth is seen to be that intellectual truth is of no account .

It was of no account to Vinoba Bhave a Brahmin, whether the man before him was a Brahmin or an outcaste.

There was a war on and such emotional family matters were really of no account .

Yet this self-protective brand of public service was of no account to the Lordly Phantasms.

You are a mere picture editor, a workman, whose views on editorial staff are of no account .

precious little/few

There are precious few seats inside the court room.

At the moment there is precious little.

Eight voices then, and precious little else.

Food shopping takes time, a commodity of which most of us have precious little.

From which it follows that many will choose precious little attachment.

I had no answers and precious little consolation to offer him to mitigate the facts.

Once the polarization occurs, there is precious little Mrs Clinton can do about it.

She had to find some other way to save Angel's precious little life, and find it quickly.

There was precious little to learn.

sb couldn't care less

some little/few sth

sth has much/little/nothing to recommend it

The hotel has little except price to recommend it.

An alternative approach-optical fibre - has much to recommend it.

As such, it has much to recommend it.

But in terms of an effective solution the voting method has little to recommend it.

In principle this format has much to recommend it, but in this case the practice has not been successful.

It is plain that, in the long run, the gentle art of compromise has much to recommend it.

Nevertheless, the principle of chisel ploughing has much to recommend it in the right conditions.

Such a way of proceeding has much to recommend it, but scant progress has been made in that direction.

This cooperative family decision-making has much to recommend it.

the least

$10,000 is the least we'll need to repair the roof.

£20,000 is the least we could accept for a car of this type.

After trials, we chose the engine that used the least fuel.

Find a route that is likely to have the least traffic.

I was the youngest, so I always got the least pocket money.

Of all the EU countries, Britain spends the least on higher education.

The least anyone around here works is about 50 hours per week.

Those who have been in the most danger have the least to say about it.

We've selected recipes that take the least time to prepare.

We decided to buy the one that cost the least .

We thought this decision would produce the least harm and disruption to residents.

Which jacket costs the least ?

Even the least likely candidate for a career in dance knew that Truitte was available after class for talk about the field.

I learned that there were thousands of men pursuing my sisters, who seemed not the least bit concerned.

If this happens to you, simply cut the least important information.

It was the least likely millionaire's spare-room imaginable.

Money was the least volatile commodity traded by Salomon Brothers and therefore the least risky.

The northernmost zone has the least continuous plant cover, the most patterned ground exposed, and the narrowest range of communities.

The white washed walls and bright lighting, however, make this one of the least atmospheric mausoleums you could imagine.

This was to be our first meeting since the threat of further surgery or at the least , drugs.

the least of sb's worries/problems/troubles/concerns

For not the least of Henry's problems was how to raise the money required for the accomplishment of such an undertaking.

Greatly increased taxes and a major shift back to defence expenditure could be the least of our worries.

Not the least of its problems was extreme alienation between labor and management.

That was the least of her troubles.

The death under somewhat dubious circumstances of a racehorse belonging to his son was frankly the least of his problems.

the line/path of least resistance

If you take the line of least resistance or fail to be consistent, you will actually make things worse.

Political will in such situations is a low explosive, blasting along the lines of least resistance .

Pretty soon, the water, which follows the path of least resistance , has its own plan for your driveway.

The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance .

Usually he just takes the line of least resistance .

When it constructs its tunnel underground the rabbit, naturally enough, takes the line of least resistance .

the little people

the little/small matter of sth

But first there's the small matter of a semi-final clash that has split the household down the middle.

His manifesto, of course, concerns the small matter of his life.

On a good day, the building would be almost entirely rented-apart from the small matter of signing the contract.

Then there was the small matter of my physical fitness.

There's also the little matter of thirty-three shroud lines loops!

There remains, as ever, the little matter of finance.

This operation was tricky because there was the little matter of taking off my trousers and putting on my shorts.

What about the small matter of the rest of the season?

the more ..., the more/the less ...

the more ..., the more/the less ...

there is little/nothing to choose between sth

Both make-ups can be available at the same time and, so far as value goes, there is nothing to choose between them.

But there is little to choose between the two in terms of overall performance.

to say the least

Mrs. Russel was upset, to say the least .

These maps are difficult to understand, to say the least .

As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least .

Cartoonish, to say the least .

It is a bizarre setting, to say the least , where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons.

The lamps look, to say the least , unreliable.

The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least , uncertain.

The results of these experiments were, to say the least , puzzling to the researchers.

There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least .

Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least .

to say the least

As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least.

Cartoonish, to say the least.

It is a bizarre setting, to say the least, where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons.

The lamps look, to say the least, unreliable.

The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least, uncertain.

The results of these experiments were, to say the least, puzzling to the researchers.

There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least.

Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least.

too little, too late

A 3 percent funding increase is too little, too late to save the tutoring program.

twist/wrap/wind sb around your little finger

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a little farm on the hill

a little laugh

a little nap

a cute little puppy

a nice little house

a poor little bird

Alice gets angry over little things.

He had climbed a little way up the tree and gotten scared.

I haven't seen one of those since I was a little girl.

I loved playing with blocks when I was little .

It's just a little souvenir I brought back from Italy

Oh, the poor little thing, he's hurt his paw.

There's just that little matter of the $5000 you owe me.

There were three bridesmaids at the wedding, and even the little one behaved beautifully.

They've been married for ten years and have two little girls.

They bought a nice little house near the beach.

Todd's stupid little jokes

We saw a little old lady with a walking-stick.

What a lovely little dog!

What an annoying little boy!

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Delicate little Louise, requiring round-the-clock, year-long, life-long protection.

Her little boy was Johnny, seven years old, dark-eyed and sweet.

On the jetty near the little lighthouse is a remarkably good restaurant.

She was only about seventeen, with the most beautiful little face I had ever seen.

So this little one is a surprise.

The little Hoflin, who had her speciality showpiece in Act Two, did it very badly and finally tripped and fell.

Where the Aztecs are is just a little short.

II. determiner

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at the (very) least

But, at the very least , we want to be cut in on the deal.

Each tier was held in place by tiny press studs which sprang apart at the least pressure.

He threw noisy tantrums at the least provocation.

I suppose I had expected anger, an outburst of violence, at the very least surprise and furious disbelief.

I was sure, at the very least , that diet does had done thousands of women like me no good.

Obviously, organic does signify better, or at the least an improvement, but the buyer must beware.

People's lives could be at stake, or at the very least their futures.

That there should be, at the least , periodic review.

(it's) no/small/little wonder (that)

a (proper) little madam

She was madam , all right, a proper little madam.

a big fish in a little/small pond

a little bird told me (sth)

a little something

Before that, and this should tell you a little something , it was not much more attractive for Stanford.

Can yet give us a little something now, Morreen.

Let me just tell you a little something !

Mrs Fanning also stood up and said she could stand to leave behind a little something .

Pawlowski knows a little something about horsepower.

So I thought, a little push, a little shove, a little something extra to shake it loose.

This time aliens stop by for a visit and leave a little something , um, behind.

Well, I ate a little something in my room earlier.

a nice little earner

Bethlehem will always be a nice little earner .

However worthy his motives, the good doctor is on a nice little earner .

It has become, let's face it, a nice little earner .

Some of the nurses found it a nice little earner on top of their poor weekly pay.

That would be a nice little earner for us.

With an eye for a nice little earner , Del Trotter dictated his letter of application to chief sports writer Roy Collins.

at least

At least fifty people were waiting in line.

At least you should listen to his explanation.

His name is Kevin. At least that's what he told me.

His parents should at least go to his graduation.

The food was terrible, but at least we had a nice view.

The law has changed, at least as far as I know.

Everyone on the Cardinals' roster should be here for at least part of the minicamp.

For the time being, at least , the Falls was safe.

It goes against calls from the London Chamber of Commerce which wants at least 1000 more free parking spaces for bikes.

Lastly, they want to give tax advantages to causes deemed worthy, or at least popular.

That would mean at least $ 7. 28 an hour in wages and benefits.

There are at least four companies, perhaps five, that would like to start a 24-hour news channel.

To all appearances, it kept a grip on at least 30 million Muslimsmore than the entire population of the Maghreb today.

Unless I see at least a hint of contour, I assume a crotch has been padded.

be nothing less than sth

Japan's economic recovery was seen as nothing less than a miracle.

They way they treat their workers is nothing short of barbaric.

But of course to Miss Hoity Toity Grenfell, it was nothing less than she expected.

He come to the remarkable conclusion that Ardakke was nothing less than the setting for the next evolutionary step for mankind.

In such context, between such gilt-lettered cloth-bound boards, the concession was nothing less than munificent.

It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

Learn each week in 60 seconds why fashion is nothing less than a full-time job!

Milosevic is nothing less than a traitor.

The experience of being on Iona is nothing less than magical and I am moved to tears.

The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

be nothing/little short of sth

First, I would strongly advise other CEOs to follow our experience because the results stood to be nothing short of spectacular.

It is little short of tragic that she has been cut off, while still at the peak of her singing power.

The 18 tracks of the new record are so dizzyingly dexterous, the live show should be nothing short of amazing.

The city hopes to attract around 3.5 million visitors annually, but last year's figures were little short of disastrous.

The quality of sound via these outputs is nothing short of amazing.

The result is nothing short of brilliant and has met with raves in all the glossy industry mags.

This is nothing short of a scandal.

What they envision is nothing short of a new corporate structure, in which accounting and other functions are outsourced.

black/elegant etc (little) number

funny little sth

good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc

have/hold sth in your hot little hand

in a world of your own/in your own little world

in less than no time

it's (a little/bit) late in the day (to do sth)

it's the least I can do

last but not least

Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife for her support.

Last but not least, let me introduce Jane, our new accountant.

And last but not least, I thank Begona Canup for her interest in the book.

Social Security has reduced poverty, and last , but by no means least, it has been a good deal for participants.

And last but not least, the baby of the family.

And last but not least, there are all those damn kids sharing files and scaring the media moguls shiftless.

And, last but not least, its growth and production has a huge impact on the environment we live in.

And, last but not least, my cousin Bishop Malduin of Kinrimund with, no doubt, his stepson Colban.

And, last but not least, they might re-read the scores while listening.

least of all

Dave doesn't take anything seriously, least of all himself.

Nobody wants to stop you from following the career of your choice, least of all me.

She told no one, least of all her husband, what she planned to do.

James was no model of deportment anywhere, least of all in his marital and other personal relations.

Life is no bed of roses for the new dealer, least of all if female and of a gullible disposition.

No one thought it was a goal of mine, least of all me.

Nobody, least of all the chancellor, one suspects, is banking on this.

Not least of all, it is the San Diego neighborhood that many gays have long embraced as their own.

They were not people who smiled much, least of all at children.

This wasn't yet a case for the police, least of all for him.

Truth is, no one has laughed at the inconsistent Campbell lately, least of all the Nets.

leave little/nothing to the imagination

His creation left nothing to the imagination .

Plastics - that here leave little to the imagination - were widely used in fashion.

less and less

The fighting has become less and less frequent.

They began spending less and less time with each other.

As the war progressed, this position be-came less and less tenable and was eventually discarded.

Changes over the course of 250 years meant that realities accorded less and less with formal appearances and official regulations.

However, they are less and less willing either to hide or to lead lives of celibacy.

It is merely that there is less and less justification for her position.

It turned out not to be much-and, as it happened, he needed less and less as time went on.

Now I seem to care less and less.

She liked the mail-order concept, saying that working women have less and less time to shop at stores.

Staff were separated less and less from pupils; they used the same library and the same resource centres.

less and less

As the war progressed, this position be-came less and less tenable and was eventually discarded.

Changes over the course of 250 years meant that realities accorded less and less with formal appearances and official regulations.

However, they are less and less willing either to hide or to lead lives of celibacy.

It is merely that there is less and less justification for her position.

It turned out not to be much-and, as it happened, he needed less and less as time went on.

Now I seem to care less and less.

She liked the mail-order concept, saying that working women have less and less time to shop at stores.

Staff were separated less and less from pupils; they used the same library and the same resource centres.

less of sth

less than helpful/honest/enthusiastic etc

Although he did not reject a fact-finding mission outright, Major was clearly less than enthusiastic about the idea.

But in the same interview Mr Dole, as is his way, was a little less than helpful to the president.

But the way in which they are present may be less than helpful.

In this dilemma, Eliot was less than helpful to his apologists.

Not surprisingly, the reaction of local residents to the schemes was less than enthusiastic.

The refugees are naturally less than enthusiastic about this.

Those who had known him from that earlier period, however, were less than enthusiastic about his elevation.

lesser/ordinary/mere mortals

A penchant for setting oneself apart and above mere mortals .

And together we were emphatically co-operative that neighbouring forces were populated by lesser mortals .

However, such models of the universe are not of much interest to us ordinary mortals .

Lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses figure prominently among the names as well as more ordinary mortals of obviously substantial means.

Miracles can be worked by Him alone, although mere mortals may entreat Him by prayer to perform them on their behalf.

She held herself raised by her great prosperity above all that ordinary mortals fear and reverence.

This increased exposure allows them to exploit their advantages over more ordinary mortals more easily than their predecessors could.

little horror

And that little horror Zach was around.

little/old devil

A true old devil , Manson vanishes in a puff of smoke.

I really miss the old devil .

Impotent old devils and dried-up hags always deride the efforts of the young.

Indeed, I worship the little devil , but only as a travelling companion.

Not that he's the worst of them, poor old devil .

So much, thought Blanche, for flirting with the lascivious old devil .

There was one old devil with red eyes.

little/young ones

As Jack goes on hunting, the little ones look at him as an expert.

Bowel frequency, for example, was little greater in the older patients than in the younger ones .

Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Helping with academic or social tasks, the older children develop a sense of responsibility for the younger ones in the building.

Mr Preston had recently cleared out his old trees and planted new young ones .

Older respondents tend to state their replies in honorifics; younger ones are less reverential.

The older kids were at school and two of the women had taken the younger ones to the park.

They were thinking of wives and little ones far away, and wondering if they would ever see them again.

more haste less speed

more or less

"Did they have what you were looking for at the hardware store?" "Yes, more or less."

There were 50 people there, more or less.

This report says more or less the same thing as the previous one.

What she says is more or less true.

Alexei was a mining engineer in the Kuzbas, but he had more or less refashioned himself into a translator.

And then I was using it more or less daily for years ....

As things are, it's more or less useless.

Lesbians, being women, were more or less ignored as in-consequential so long as they were quiet about their sexuality.

Look also for R Centauri, a red Mira-type variable more or less between the Pointers.

Some programs will let you set the size of the buffer to keep more or less text.

The Trilogy helped create this new man of labor, who is more or less a paralegal.

This time she saw pebbles laid out over the whole of the surface, more or less evenly spaced.

more than a little

Educators, meanwhile, often view business with more than a little suspicion, distrust, and envy.

Gordon was, he admitted, more than a little relieved.

He was more than a little disappointed that his son was not athletic.

It may be no more than a little park near work or a church that you stop by during lunch hour.

Love: the word would be utterly meaningless in this context; no more than a little blast of sound.

Many of these ideas depend more than a little on what you believe in.

The ex-boyfriend is more than a little interested.

much less

I doubt Clemson will even make the finals, much less win.

Even Libertarians, who advocate much less government, are happy to accept public campaign money.

Even today, most politicians rarely wear neckties, much less power suits.

I will become much less easily tired ... much less easily fatigued ... much less easily discouraged ... much less easily depressed.

In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.

Its development costs are not much less than the firm's total asset value.

That had to ne injected daily, but her husband recalls the injections being much less frequent.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is much less assured.

Try dowsing without rods: it's much less cumbersome.

much/still less

The average person is unlikely to pick up this type of book, much less read it.

Equally, science would be much less advanced than it is if the only available data were intuitive estimates of quantities.

Half a century earlier his behaviour would have seemed much more normal and aroused much less criticism.

In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.

On the battlefield armament was still much less important than discipline and fighting spirit.

She could not afford the bus fare to see a doctor, much less his fee.

The grouping of other languages of the world-and even of their number-is much less clear.

There is not much chance of finding a razor blade, much less using it in the appropriate way.

There was to be no pause for reflection, nor - much less - for a changeover from military to civilian rule.

no less

And if his comparison was contrived, it is no less valid for that.

And now ... Ace's face was no less expressive.

Housman's style is no less vulnerable to the distortions of the rhymed quatrain.

It is no less barbaric than killing people on a street corner.

One could remain in life, in the selfless performance of secular tasks, and arrive no less securely at the goal.

This helped Airtours generate no less than £8m in interest alone during the year.

Yet priorities are no less a matter of concern here than in other areas.

not least

There are many factors which limit productivity; not least is employee education.

Alex Ferguson will have loved this, not least because questions had started to be asked of his team and star names.

And it annoyed her intensely, not least of all because she still felt a long way from figuring him out!

And last but not least , the baby of the family.

I didn't relish this: not least because it meant that I didn't break my silence until the cheese course.

Like all good music it speaks of love, not least of the medium itself.

Nevertheless it requires separate assessment, not least because it drew on certain areas of experience not directly dominated by the monarch.

not the least/not in the least/not the least bit

nothing less than sth

The change in Bob's behavior has been nothing less than a miracle.

He is aware that what he is involved in now is nothing less than Thatcherite self-help.

It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

It is nothing less than national economic and social suicide.

The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

There is nothing less than a cultural cover-up about depression in men.

They had stumbled in upon what was quite clearly nothing less than a pagan sacrifice.

This gave her hope, for it was nothing less than a re-birth that Maggie was aiming for.

of little/no/any etc consequence

Choosing the gender of your baby is an individual decision of no consequence to anybody else.

During the bad weather we experienced a few disasters and events, but they were of little consequence .

It clearly ranks as the first written literature of any consequence .

Neither country had other exports of any consequence .

No signal can be received outside that range but this is of no consequence .

They were of no consequence , I knew they were of no consequence.

of no/little account

Gelbspan's speech was of no account .

As she grew up, her father had been of no account to her.

Charles Coffin continues: The cavalry of the Army of the Potomac had been of little account .

Epictetus' magic wand can make poverty of no account .

In a transforming instant, the est intellectual truth is seen to be that intellectual truth is of no account .

It was of no account to Vinoba Bhave a Brahmin, whether the man before him was a Brahmin or an outcaste.

There was a war on and such emotional family matters were really of no account .

Yet this self-protective brand of public service was of no account to the Lordly Phantasms.

You are a mere picture editor, a workman, whose views on editorial staff are of no account .

precious little/few

There are precious few seats inside the court room.

At the moment there is precious little.

Eight voices then, and precious little else.

Food shopping takes time, a commodity of which most of us have precious little.

From which it follows that many will choose precious little attachment.

I had no answers and precious little consolation to offer him to mitigate the facts.

Once the polarization occurs, there is precious little Mrs Clinton can do about it.

She had to find some other way to save Angel's precious little life, and find it quickly.

There was precious little to learn.

sb couldn't care less

some little/few sth

sth has much/little/nothing to recommend it

The hotel has little except price to recommend it.

An alternative approach-optical fibre - has much to recommend it.

As such, it has much to recommend it.

But in terms of an effective solution the voting method has little to recommend it.

In principle this format has much to recommend it, but in this case the practice has not been successful.

It is plain that, in the long run, the gentle art of compromise has much to recommend it.

Nevertheless, the principle of chisel ploughing has much to recommend it in the right conditions.

Such a way of proceeding has much to recommend it, but scant progress has been made in that direction.

This cooperative family decision-making has much to recommend it.

the least

$10,000 is the least we'll need to repair the roof.

£20,000 is the least we could accept for a car of this type.

After trials, we chose the engine that used the least fuel.

Find a route that is likely to have the least traffic.

I was the youngest, so I always got the least pocket money.

Of all the EU countries, Britain spends the least on higher education.

The least anyone around here works is about 50 hours per week.

Those who have been in the most danger have the least to say about it.

We've selected recipes that take the least time to prepare.

We decided to buy the one that cost the least .

We thought this decision would produce the least harm and disruption to residents.

Which jacket costs the least ?

Even the least likely candidate for a career in dance knew that Truitte was available after class for talk about the field.

I learned that there were thousands of men pursuing my sisters, who seemed not the least bit concerned.

If this happens to you, simply cut the least important information.

It was the least likely millionaire's spare-room imaginable.

Money was the least volatile commodity traded by Salomon Brothers and therefore the least risky.

The northernmost zone has the least continuous plant cover, the most patterned ground exposed, and the narrowest range of communities.

The white washed walls and bright lighting, however, make this one of the least atmospheric mausoleums you could imagine.

This was to be our first meeting since the threat of further surgery or at the least , drugs.

the least of sb's worries/problems/troubles/concerns

For not the least of Henry's problems was how to raise the money required for the accomplishment of such an undertaking.

Greatly increased taxes and a major shift back to defence expenditure could be the least of our worries.

Not the least of its problems was extreme alienation between labor and management.

That was the least of her troubles.

The death under somewhat dubious circumstances of a racehorse belonging to his son was frankly the least of his problems.

the less fortunate

The organization is collecting canned food to help the less fortunate .

Another case of hard-hearted capitalists pushing aside the less fortunate to enhance their investments?

He devoted his time to prayer and aiding the less fortunate .

His capacity to persuade people to pay attention to the plight of the less fortunate was constant.

In the wider world we examine the great differences between countries like our own and the less fortunate poor world.

It should be spending them on the less fortunate .

Phoenix officials often talk of the helping hand they give to the less fortunate .

The proposals include a comprehensive programme of security and protection for all those engaged in helping the less fortunate .

the lesser evil

Celibacy is, at best, the lesser evil; by no means is it regarded as a panacea.

If it comes to the crunch, going in would seem to me the lesser evil.

the lesser of two evils

At least they chose the lesser of two evils, but even so Tank managed to create havoc.

Mansfield saw the difficulty in reconciling the two principles, but thought that certainty was the lesser of two evils.

So people go to the polls convinced their only choice is the lesser of two evils.

They regarded the ditching of a widely respected Chancellor, in somewhat undignified circumstances, as the lesser of two evils.

While not particularly welcome, the black knight is considered the lesser of two evils.

the line/path of least resistance

If you take the line of least resistance or fail to be consistent, you will actually make things worse.

Political will in such situations is a low explosive, blasting along the lines of least resistance .

Pretty soon, the water, which follows the path of least resistance , has its own plan for your driveway.

The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance .

Usually he just takes the line of least resistance .

When it constructs its tunnel underground the rabbit, naturally enough, takes the line of least resistance .

the little people

the little/small matter of sth

But first there's the small matter of a semi-final clash that has split the household down the middle.

His manifesto, of course, concerns the small matter of his life.

On a good day, the building would be almost entirely rented-apart from the small matter of signing the contract.

Then there was the small matter of my physical fitness.

There's also the little matter of thirty-three shroud lines loops!

There remains, as ever, the little matter of finance.

This operation was tricky because there was the little matter of taking off my trousers and putting on my shorts.

What about the small matter of the rest of the season?

the more ..., the more/the less ...

the more ..., the more/the less ...

there is little/nothing to choose between sth

Both make-ups can be available at the same time and, so far as value goes, there is nothing to choose between them.

But there is little to choose between the two in terms of overall performance.

to a greater or lesser extent

All of us, to a greater or lesser extent, have been doing this all our lives.

All polite exchanges are conventional to a greater or lesser extent.

All societies differentiate and, to a greater or lesser extent, allocate unequal rewards on the basis of age.

Both historians proceed to a greater or lesser extent by way of discussion of great photographers.

Different professional institutions may define to a greater or lesser extent the modes and their mix.

In these cases A is to a greater or lesser extent unclear, ambiguous.

They also, to a greater or lesser extent, existed outside mainstream, predominantly male controlled, hierarchical structures.

With every formal organisation there exists, to a greater or lesser extent, a complex informal organisation.

to say the least

Mrs. Russel was upset, to say the least .

These maps are difficult to understand, to say the least .

As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least .

Cartoonish, to say the least .

It is a bizarre setting, to say the least , where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons.

The lamps look, to say the least , unreliable.

The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least , uncertain.

The results of these experiments were, to say the least , puzzling to the researchers.

There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least .

Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least .

to say the least

As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least.

Cartoonish, to say the least.

It is a bizarre setting, to say the least, where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons.

The lamps look, to say the least, unreliable.

The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least, uncertain.

The results of these experiments were, to say the least, puzzling to the researchers.

There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least.

Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least.

too little, too late

A 3 percent funding increase is too little, too late to save the tutoring program.

twist/wrap/wind sb around your little finger

well-known/little-known/lesser-known

III. adverb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

different

It appears that for acute health problems older people are little different , in terms of prevalence, from younger age groups.

In fact, the gene-altered products often seem little different from ordinary varieties when lined up on store shelves.

The provincial groups with papers in two or three towns were little different from the other independents.

The outcome this time was little different .

Finances at the end of 1913 were little different from 1912.

For many residents of the oil fields, Pemex executives seem little different from the foreign overlords they replaced.

This was little different from the responses provided by younger age groups.

General Zionists favored a free-market democracy, little different from London or New York.

direct

But there is little direct connection.

Outdoors Wisconsin clearly has little direct effect on anyone but the suckers.

There was, until recently, little direct information on the requirements of the textile industry.

There was little direct discussion of the reengineering effort except as a trigger for the explosion.

The public hospitals are managed by the states, and the federal government has very little direct say in them.

Mechanisation itself has, apart from the habitat changes it has induced, had little direct effect on birds in Sussex.

With the Sun Icing himself he had little direct relationship.

There is little direct connection, because many early ecologists were not interested in evolution.

good

This method of analysis does not always work, and sometimes interpretation of such sites is little better than guesswork.

By that time it did me little good .

In comparison, she herself would look little better than a sack of potatoes on horseback.

At times the road is little better than a forestry track.

Professional footballers fared little better than cricketers and were less likely to be able to pursue their occupation for as long.

Separating sheep from goats within a school was little better than separating them into different schools.

The seed was defective and the resulting crop was little better than useless.

This seems to explain the early prints showing people travelling in what were little better than cattle trucks.

real

As a result, little real automation is taking place.

They have little real batting strength and their pitching is almost nil.

Indeed, even in 1991 there is little real evidence of such planning by governments and industry.

He points to cultures, such as Samoa, where Margaret Mead found that there was little real adolescence.

An upper house was created, but its powers were limited, and the President had little real power.

Existing smaller powers that were supposedly independent had little real power.

The election produced little real change in the relative strength of the other three main parties.

Murder and crowd violence there was, although we have little real information about it.

short

It is little short of tragic that she has been cut off, while still at the peak of her singing power.

The city hopes to attract around 3.5 million visitors annually, but last year's figures were little short of disastrous.

The choice of organised leisure pursuits is little short of staggering.

Yet in recent weeks the atmosphere at the ministry's forest-products division has been little short of electric.

After all the speculation about the possible disagreements between them, their encounter has been little short of anodyne.

But assisting her investigations into a perfectly natural death as if it were murder was little short of lunacy.

It is little short of a national disgrace that allocations are still being made using such a crude approach.

To get in on a scholarship means passing little short of brilliantly.

well

This method of analysis does not always work, and sometimes interpretation of such sites is little better than guesswork.

At times the road is little better than a forestry track.

Professional footballers fared little better than cricketers and were less likely to be able to pursue their occupation for as long.

Separating sheep from goats within a school was little better than separating them into different schools.

The seed was defective and the resulting crop was little better than useless.

This seems to explain the early prints showing people travelling in what were little better than cattle trucks.

A fox liked its lair - and this place was little better .

Showing the insignia of Neutral deities cuts no ice with Thadeus - such gods are little better than the Proscribed Ones.

■ VERB

achieve

Later that day she had been forced to catnap at her desk, having achieved little else of consequence there.

It happens with only a handful of Members in their places and achieves little , if any, coverage by the media.

He achieved little in his work and dissipated much of his time in an uncongenial student fraternity.

Without their support and the ideas from the area the Teams can achieve little .

The president's unilateral reforms will achieve little if he does not talk to blacks.

Thus, in the key area of economic policy, despite an occasional victory, Carter achieved little .

He has achieved little since November besides getting to know the gadgets in the presidential motor cars.

Payment could be enforced only by the courts, and would achieve little when poor husbands could not afford to pay.

change

And it's changed little over the centuries.

Sterling was little changed against the deutsche mark at 2. 2323 marks compared with 2. 2324 at the previous close.

This maldistribution of income had changed little by 1900.

In other respects the book has changed little and there is no attempt to deal with organic synthesis in its own right.

Motorola was little changed in active trading.

Salisbury Plain had changed little since Blake's day.

We lay under arms all day and made but little change in our position.

know

They knew little about computers and had bought the discs from another counterfeiter who's yet to be caught.

One of the great truths of Washington life little known by the folks back home is the power of congressional staff members.

Lloyd George was not a person who knew little about clergymen.

She had lived in Darrowby for several years but the townsfolk knew little about her.

She little knowing that the man she holds in her arms!

Our Czech hosts knew little about it, save that the approach was long and the descent intricate.

He really knew little about Jamila.

matter

It matters little that consumers are still cautious.

On Andean haciendas, it matters little to the man who tills the land whether the product increases.

He didn't often actually handle a painting, but that mattered little to him.

It matters little , the loss is mine.

That the subject was in fact normally accorded Cinderella status mattered little to the many who objected to its being there at all.

To neo-Keynesians it matters little what local authorities spend on revenue account.

What might happen when eventually they arrived at Wrens' Quarters, Ardneavie, mattered little .

In this instance it mattered little .

mean

But since the mare has won five of her last six races, that probably means little to trainer Mary Reveley.

But in truth they mean little .

For political freedom will mean little it if is not underpinned by economic freedom as well.

The average figure means little in this case, however.

But it means little now, for the mountain is in motion, and slide it must.

But, of course, such slight diagnostic indications mean little unless a theory is to hand which can explain their crucial importance.

Probably life without Laura meant little to him anyway.

seem

He made friends easily and after his wife died there seemed little to keep him tied to his home area.

In fact, the gene-altered products often seem little different from ordinary varieties when lined up on store shelves.

With no room for a fiscal stimulus in most countries, there seems little they can do to boost output and jobs.

For many residents of the oil fields, Pemex executives seem little different from the foreign overlords they replaced.

And finally, there are the ones that seem little more than a cue for a really good cackle.

But the idea of true integration - that is, a normal university post - new seems little more than a pipedream.

And victory never looked in doubt as he dominated throughout, making the fences seem little more than matchsticks.

What it brings back seems little , in terms of hope at least.

show

The frescoes allow more scope, but even they show little more than one event at a time.

Official records show little except the names of Sterling Trust's directors.

He still showed little emotional reaction though he was evidently angry with himself for letting his natural arrogance be so easily quashed.

Many attempts to evaluate its effectiveness have shown little or no benefit, possibly due to methodological problems.

The West had shown little liking for this.

For lack of space these have previously been little shown to the public.

Both turbine options were in close formation in the static at Farnborough and a superficial look would show little between them.

understand

The reason, quite simply, is that pruning is little understood - again that word why.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

The pattern of life here has changed little since I was a boy.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

Harrison felt little inclined to confide in Berthoud.

The 4. 3 cents were little noticed when they were added, and will be little noticed if removed.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.