I. ˈles adjective
( less·er ˈlesə(r) ; least ˈlēst)
Etymology: Middle English lasse, las, less, lesse, partly from Old English lǣs , adverb & noun and partly from lǣssa, adjective; akin to Old Saxon & Old Frisian lēs less, Middle High German lin tepid, faint, Old High German bi linnan to cease, Old Norse linr soft, gentle, weak, linna to cease, læ fraud, treason, bane, Gothic af linnan to go away, Middle Irish lēine shirt, līan soft, Greek liazesthai to bend, recoil, sink, limos hunger, liaros warm, soft, gentle, Lithuanian liesas thin
1. : of a more limited number : fewer
less operating miles of railway track — New York Times
less than two years later — C.S.Forester
the subcommittee shall consist of not less than three nor more than five members
the more watch officers, the less watches — Wirt Williams
less family ties than a wild thing in the woods — H.L.Mencken
2.
a. : of humbler rank : lowlier
no less a person than Winston Churchill — A.A.Hill
b. obsolete : of a lower quality : inferior
hope to joy is little less in joy than hope enjoyed — Shakespeare
3. archaic : younger or of diminished magnitude : minor
Dr. Franklin the less — T.B.Macaulay
the tyrant of less Asia — Josuah Sylvester
barons … upward we call the greater nobility, the others beneath them the less nobility — John Selden
4.
a. : of reduced size, extent, or degree : smaller , slighter
the much less subordination of the individual to the social community than of the cell or organ to the animal body — Julian Huxley
b. : more limited in quantity or amount
after 1764 Adams devoted even less time than formerly to making a living — C.L.Becker
II. adverb
Etymology: Middle English lesse, lasse, less, from Old English lǣs
1. : to a lesser extent or degree
doubtful cases … are bound to come up in regard to the less investigated languages — A.L.Kroeber
was less angry than perplexed — Jean Stafford
coccinellids … were common during April and May and less so in June — Journal of Economic Entomology
the more they were exposed to the campaign … the less voters changed their positions — R.M.Goldman
Italian is no less a mother tongue for her than English — Irving Kolodin
2. : more emphatically not
they were not attacking the churches, still less religion as such — Elmer Davis
•
- less than
III. preposition
Etymology: Middle English las, lesse, from Old English lǣs, preposition, adverb, & noun
1. : diminished by : with the subtraction of : minus
the weight so found, less the weight of the sieve, shall be considered to be the drained weight — Definitions & Standards for Food
2. : with the exception of : excluding
appeared originally, less some stitchwork, in the New Yorker — John Lardner
IV. noun
( plural less )
Etymology: Middle English lesse, lasse, from Old English lǣsse (from lǣssa, adjective), lǣs
1.
a. : a smaller portion or quantity
no less than 97 million dollars has been added — J.B.Conant
the radio towers were askew and less of them protruded above the snow — Geographical School Bulletin
b. : something not as consequential or elaborate
people have been sent to Siberia for less — Time
hewed to the current architectural concept that “ less is more”
2. : something inferior to that with which it is compared
of two evils choose the less
3. obsolete : one that is of inferior rank
nemesis … doth raze the great and raise the less — Samuel Daniel
V. pronoun
Etymology: Middle English lesse, lasse, pron. & adjective, from Old English lǣsse (from lǣssa, adjective)
1. : something smaller or below average
can not honorably do less
2. plural in construction : fewer persons or things
less were available than he had hoped
VI. conjunction
Etymology: Middle English, from earlier lasse than, lesse than, from lasse, lesse (adverb) + than
now dialect : unless