less
used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs
How often you will meet it
Rank 325 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 62,349 times across 175,173 chapters — 0.030% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adverb
- used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs also: to a lesser extent less interestingless expensive
- comparative of little she walks less than she shouldhe works less these days
adjective
- (comparative of `little' usually used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree of less importanceless time to spend with the family
- (usually preceded by `no') lower in quality no less than perfect
- (nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer less than three weeksno less than 50 people attended
less in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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She certainly could not be a day less than seventy now.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles · Agatha Christie · Chapter 1
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Steadily during his lifetime it had grown more gloomy, less habitable.
The Abandoned Room · Wadsworth Camp · Chapter 1
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As time goes on, he becomes more and more anecdotically experienced, and, if possible, even less actual.
Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1
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Here every one of gentle blood has been more or less mixed up in these civil broils.
A Knight of the White Cross · G. A. (George Alfred) Henty · Chapter 1
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The white man had no right to scourge the emancipated Negro, still less has he a right to kill him.
The Red Record Tabulated Statistics · Ida B. Wells-Barnett · Chapter 1