least

CEFRA2

/liːst/

adjective · adverb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Smallest in amount, size, or importance among several things.

  2. 02

    adverb

    To the smallest degree or amount.

Examples

  • He always turns up just when you least expect him.

  • In a dictionary like this one there should be at least two sentences with "fridge".

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /list/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Chiefly preceded by the: superlative form of little: most little.

  2. Chiefly used with abstract nouns: less than all others in extent or size; littlest, smallest.

  3. Of two or more animals or plants with the same name: the smaller or smallest.

More examples

In context

  • My brother is very important. At least he thinks he is.

  • He earns the least money in his family.

  • least common multiple

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Of all the siblings, she showed the blank interest in sports, preferring to read books.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The adjective, determiner, and noun are derived from Middle English leste, lest, last (“(adjective) smallest, least; (noun) smallest thing, etc.; person or thing least in importance; etc.”), from Old English lǣst, a contraction of læsast, læsest (“least”) (also lærest in only one source), from Proto-Germanic *laisistaz (“smallest, least”), from *laisiz (“less”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-; whence modern English less) + *-istaz (“suffix forming superlative forms of some adjectives”). The adverb and pronoun are derived from the adjective or determiner. cognates * Old Frisian leist * Old Saxon lēs