Lest Meaning
/lɛst/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
conjFor fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.
conjthat (without the negative particle; introduces the reason for an emotion.)
Sentence Examples
Beware lest you should miss the train.
Take this umbrella with you lest you should get wet and catch cold.
There was danger lest the secret become known.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She tied a string around her finger ____ she forget the important errand.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We should leave early ____ we get stuck in the heavy evening traffic and miss the start of the concert tonight.
Word Origin & History
c. 1200, contracted from Middle English les te (“less that”), from Old English þȳ lǣs þe (“whereby less that”), from þȳ (instrumental case of demonstrative article þæt (“that”)) + lǣs (“less”) + þe (“that,” relative particle). The þȳ was dropped and the remaining two words contracted into leste.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I thought to haue told thee of it, but I fear'd / Leaſt I might anger thee."
— 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15, column 2:
"And then Robert Loo came out swiftly with the half-filled jar lest more be said."
— 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 565:
"Stay free from petty jealousies / Live by no man's code / And hold your judgment for yourself / Lest you wind up on this road"
— 1967, “I Am a Lonesome Hobo”, in Bob Dylan (music), John Wesley Harding:
"Lest any astrologer reading this result get cocky, Dr Cajochen does not believe that what he has found is directly influenced by the Moon through, say, some tidal effect. What he thinks he has discovered is an additional hand on the body’s clock-face."
— 2013 July 27, “Lunacy?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8846:
"That you and I should be in the same house together and not able to speak to each other is in itself a misery, but this is terribly enhanced by the dread lest this state of things should be made to continue."
— 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Lady Milborough as Ambassador”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 81:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She tied a string around her finger ____ she forget the important errand.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We should leave early ____ we get stuck in the heavy evening traffic and miss the start of the concert tonight.