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less

adverb · noun · verb

Simple meaning

To a smaller extent or degree.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

lehs
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlɛs

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adverb

  1. To a smaller extent or degree.

  2. Used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs

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

noun

  1. A smaller amount or quantity.

verb

  1. Used to form the cohortative of verbs, equivalent of the first-person plural imperative in some other languages.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.

More ways to use less

  • “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.”preposition
  • “I like him less each time I see him.”adverb
  • “I have less to do today than yesterday.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

far lessless likelyless importantless commonless developedless expensiveless effective

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • lesseradjectiveInflected form

    Of less size or importance.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • lessornounPerson or profession

    Someone who grants a lease.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • lesser bullrushnounCompound term

    Reed maces of America, Europe, North Africa, Asia.

  • lesser burdocknounCompound term

    A plant that is ubiquitous in all but very acid soil.

  • lesser butterfly orchidnounCompound term

    South European orchid having fragrant greenish-white flowers.

  • lesser calamintnounCompound term

    Low-growing strongly aromatic perennial herb of southern Europe to Great Britain.

  • lesser celandinenounCompound term

    Perennial herb native to Europe but naturalized elsewhere having heart-shaped leaves and yellow flowers resembling buttercups.

  • lesser centaurynounCompound term

    Common European glabrous annual centaury with flowers in dense cymes.

Commonly Confused With

fewerFewer vs. LessKnow the difference

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.