less

See also: -less and LESS

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɛs/
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛs

Etymology 1

Adverb from Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣs (“smaller, less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, be gentle”).(Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) Cognate with Old Frisian lēs (“less”), Old Saxon lēs (“less”). According to Kroonen (2013), from a northern Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-, which he connects to Lithuanian liesas (“lean”).

Determiner and preposition from Middle English lees, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣssa (“less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisizan-, from Proto-Germanic *laisiz (“smaller, lesser, fewer, lower”) (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian lessa (“less”).

Verb from Middle English lessen, from the determiner.

Noun from Middle English lesse, from the determiner.

Adverb

less (not comparable)

  1. To a smaller extent or degree.
    The supposed benefit is actually less a benefit and more a drawback.
    1. Functioning as a comparative of little.
      I slept little last night, but even less the night before.
    2. Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.
      This gadget is less useful than I expected.
      I'm not any less happy for being on my own.
      Please do your work a little less hurriedly.
      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
        I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.
      • 1957, Lester Del Rey, Rockets Through Space: The Story of Man's Preparations to Explore the Universe:
        This section of space is much less empty than that between the stars, […]
      • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 November 2025:
        That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.
      • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
        In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.
Antonyms
Translations

Determiner

less

  1. A smaller amount of; not as much; comparative form of little: more little. [from 12th c.]
    Antonym: more
    I prefer it with less sugar.
    I have less tea than coffee.
    There is (even) less water left now.
    You have even less sense than an inanimate object.
  2. (proscribed) Fewer; a smaller number of. [from 9th c. at latest]
    There are less people here now.
    Now there are three less green bottles hanging on the wall.
    The express checkout lane is for those with ten items or less, and I have less than ten items.
    I saw less than a dozen people.
    • 1579, Lyly, Euphues, page 208:
      I thinke there are few Vniuersities that haue lesse faultes than Oxford, many that haue more.
    • 1681, John Houghton, A Collection For the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, page 263:
      ... on his land he will have less manure, less corn, and less people; ...
    • 1952 September 7, Thomas M Pryor, New York Times:
      This is not a happy situation as far as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes is concerned because it means less jobs for the union's members here at home.
    • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 555:
      No less than four standard-bearers went before them, carrying huge crimson banners emblazoned with the golden lion.
    • 2003 December 16, Timandra Harkness, The Guardian:
      Although my hosts, G S Aviation, can teach you to fly in Wiltshire, an intensive week at their French airfield means less problems with the weather, cheap but good living, and complete removal from any distractions.
Usage notes

Some[*] regard the use of the determiner less with countable quantities to be incorrect, stating that less should indicate only a reduction in uncountable quantity, or in size or significance, leaving fewer to indicate a smaller numerical quantity. For example, they suggest saying less sugar, but fewer people, not less people. Such a rule can allow distinctions such as:

  • Their troubles are fewer than ours, meaning "Their troubles are not so numerous as ours."
  • Their troubles are less than ours, meaning "Their troubles are not so great as ours."

Nevertheless, less has been widely understood and commonly used as a synonym for fewer since it first appeared in Old English as læs.

Antonyms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also

Preposition

less

  1. Minus; not including
    It should then tax all of that as personal income, less the proportion of the car's annual mileage demonstrably clocked up on company business.
    Total: $500, less $50 expenses.
    I earned $45,000 last year, less tax and insurance.
Antonyms
Translations

Verb

less (third-person singular simple present lesses, present participle lessing, simple past and past participle lessed)

  1. (archaic) To make less; to lessen.
    • 1386-90, Gower, Confessio Amantis
      What he will make lesse, he lesseth.
    • c. 1650, Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, A short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper, from the yeares of God 1639 to 1649, printed 1844 for the Spalding Club
      Som of the wiser sort, divining upon this vission, attrebute to the pen-knyves the lenth of tym before this should com to pass, and it hath been observed by sindrie that the earles of that hous befor wer the richest in the kingdom, having treasure and store besyde them, but ever since the addittion of this so great a revenue, they have lessed the stock by heavie burdens of debt and ingagment.
    • 1816, "Joseph Wharton" [obituary notice], Poulson's Advertiser, quoted in Genealogy of the Wharton Family of Philadelphia: 1664 to 1880, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton (1880)
      The protracted term of life, and the lingering illness through which this gentleman had passed, had neither impaired the original vigour of his mind, nor lessed the uncommon warmth of his affections.
    • 1852, Charles Heavysege, The revolt of Tartarus, a poem, page 116:
      Soon as I lessed the tree of this, it waned — Less cause, gave less effect
    • 1886, Horace Eaton Walker, The Lady of Dardale and Other Poems, page 74:
      The scattered beauties thro' the air, Have lessed the woe, the dread, the care;
Translations

Adjective

less (not comparable)

  1. Smaller in size, extent, degree, importance, worth, etc.
    Antonym: greater
    All my cares grew less until completely gone.
    Three is less than four.
    24 is sort-of like 25, but less.
    No less a person than the queen replied.
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 141:
      Those Rattels are somewhat like the chape of a Rapier, but lesse, which they take from the taile of a snake.
    • 1678, Guido Bentivoglio, Henry Carey Earl of Monmouth, The History of the Warrs of Flanders, page 32:
      […] by how much the Regent went every day less in her authority, so much more did the audacity of the Confederates, and the rest who held Intelligence with them, increase: […]
    • 1711, The Spectator, number 126:
      We are likewise ready to maintain with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six is less than seven in all times and all places […] .
    • 1912 [original: ????], Alfred Tennyson, The Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, volumes 1-2, page 5:
      For many a petty king ere Arthur came / Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war / Each upon the other, wasted all the land; […] / And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, / Wherein the beast was ever more and more, / But man was less and less, till Arthur came.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Halifax, quoted in 1878, Poetical Quotations from Chaucer to Tennyson, page 398:
      'Tis less to conquer, than to make wars cease, / And, without fighting, awe the world to peace.
    • 1916, The Wood-Worker‎[3], volume 35, number May 1916, page 36:
      High speed is another cause of bullheads and cracks, because of the greater shock of contact than is the case where the speed is less.
    • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:
      Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
    1. Used attributively, where lesser would now be used instead.
      • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
        Such too, to a greater or less extent, is the condition of the operatives of every denomination in England, which is the great workhouse of the world.
      • 1885, Edward James Reed, A Treatise on the Stability of Ships:
        It is also easy to see that the straight line, representing the locus of centres of buoyancy for a rectangular section, must lie at a less inclination to the base (i.e., to the horizontal) than a line representing the locus of such centres for a parabolic section […]
      • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped:
        This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased; but the Highlandman’s vanity was ready to startle at a less matter than that.

Noun

less (uncountable)

  1. A smaller amount or quantity.
    Less is better, because less is more.
    I have less to do today than yesterday.
    Last month less of my salary was taken up with household expenses, but I still want to pay less in taxes.
    I think there's less of a problem in that regard.
    • 1846, Samuel Bealey Harrison, Harrison's Analytical Digest of All the Reported Cases ..., page 2711:
      Where a defendant had said that he could not pay a debt, but would give a bill for it, and the amount was not mentioned, but the defendant spoke of having been arrested for it: Held, that proof of this admission entitled the plaintiff to a verdict for 10l., as the defendant could not have been arrested for less. Braithwaite v. Churchill, 2 Car. & P. 311 —Abbott.
  2. Something of lower importance or severity.
    • 1954, Louis Zara, Blessed is the Land, page 354:
      Among whites, he would have been whipped and tortured for less; on Boston Common, they had hung Quakers for preaching.
    • 2012, Carol Wolper, Anne of Hollywood, page 112:
      The cop aimed his flashlight at the interior of the car. "Sorry to disappoint you. No drugs or stolen goods." Cliff gave Theresa a look. Not a smart idea to be sarcastic with an L.A. cop. People have been arrested for less. She got the message and toned it down. "I know none of this is your fault, Officer. We all appreciate the work you do." She was laying it on a bit thick but it seemed to work. He put his flashlight away, told them to have a good night.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English lesse, les, from Old English lǣs, as in þȳ lǣs þe.

Conjunction

less

  1. (dialectal, nonstandard) Unless.

Etymology 3

Verb

less

  1. Pronunciation spelling or misspelling of let's.

References

Anagrams

Hungarian

Etymology

les +‎ -j

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛʃː]
  • Hyphenation: less
  • Rhymes: -ɛʃː

Verb

less

  1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of les

Lombard

Etymology

From Latin elixus. Compare Italian lesso (“boiled meat”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlɛsː/

Noun

less m (invariable)

  1. boiled meat

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse látast. Cognate with Swedish låtsas.

Verb

less (present tense less, past tense less)

  1. to pretend (to be)

Etymology 2

Verb

less

  1. imperative of lesse

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

less

  1. imperative of lessa

Etymology 2

Verb

less

  1. (non-standard since 2012) past tense of låss

Old Irish

Etymology 1

Derived by Irslinger from Proto-Celtic *lexstus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂lek- (“to protect”).[1]

An old etymology suggested by Stokes derives this from Proto-Celtic *lesso-, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”), similar to Proto-Slavic *plodъ (“fruit”).[2][3] However, the advent of laryngeal theory makes this etymology impossible, and Irslinger criticizes this derivation for having an unclear suffixation process.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈl̠ʲes/

Noun

less m (genitive lesso)

  1. benefit, advantage
Declension
Masculine u-stem
singular dual plural
nominative less lessL lessaeH
vocative less lessL lessu
accusative lessN lessL lessu
genitive lessoH, lessaH lessoL, lessaL lessaeN
dative lessL lessaib lessaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Irish: leas
  • Manx: lhiass
  • Scottish Gaelic: leas

References

  1. ^ Irslinger, Britta Sofie (2002), Abstrakta mit Dentalsuffixen im Altirischen [Abstracts with Dental Suffixes in Old Irish] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, →ISBN, page 111
  2. ^ Urkeltischer Sprachschatz
  3. ^ MacBain, Alexander; Mackay, Eneas (1911), “leas”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎[1], Stirling, →ISBN

Further reading

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈl̠ʲesʲ/

Pronoun

less

  1. alternative spelling of les (third-person singular masculine of la)

Mutation

Mutation of less
radical lenition nasalization
less
also lless in h-prothesis environments		 less
pronounced with /lʲ-/		 less
also lless

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Polish

Etymology

    Borrowed from German Löss.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈlɛs/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Rhymes: -ɛs
    • Syllabification: less

    Noun

    less m inan

    1. (geology) loess

    Declension

    Declension of less
    singular plural
    nominative less lessy
    genitive lessu lessów
    dative lessowi lessom
    accusative less lessy
    instrumental lessem lessami
    locative lessie lessach
    vocative lessie lessy

    Derived terms

    adjective

    Further reading

    • “less”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎[4] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
    • “less”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[5] (in Polish)

    Swedish

    Etymology

    Clipping of lessen, pronunciation spelling of ledsen (“sad”), alternatively interpreted as a pronunciation spelling of a clipping of ledsen.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈlɛsː/
    • Rhymes: -ɛsː

    Adjective

    less (comparative mer less, superlative mest less)

    1. tired (of something irritating)
      Jag är less på hans jävla tjat!
      I'm tired of his god damn nagging!

    Declension

    Only used predicatively with the common gender singular. The comparative form lessare and superlative lessast exist but are considered nonstandard, so this word is mostly compared periphrastically.

    References

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