less

CEFRA2

/lɛs/

adjective · adverb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    A smaller amount or not as much.

  2. 02

    adverb

    To a smaller degree or amount.

Examples

  • The doctor told me to eat less red meat and dairy.

  • You are not less pretty than her.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. To a smaller extent or degree.

  2. Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.

adverb

Extra meaning

  1. comparative degree of little

More examples

In context

  • You must be less impatient.

  • All my cares grew less until completely gone.

  • I like him less each time I see him.

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She earns blank than her brother each month because she works fewer hours.

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

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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