Definitions for less
lɛsless

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

1. less(a)adjective

   (comparative of `little' usually used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree

   "of less importance"; "less time to spend with the family"; "a shower uses less water"; "less than three years old"

2. lessadjective

   (usually preceded by `no') lower in quality

   "no less than perfect"

3. lessadverb

   (nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer

   "less than three weeks"; "no less than 50 people attended"; "in 25 words or less"

4. less, to a lesser extentadverb

   used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs

   "less interesting"; "less expensive"; "less quickly"

5. lessadverb

   comparative of little

   "she walks less than she should"; "he works less these days"

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. lessadverb

   To smaller extent

2. lessadverb

   In lower degree

   This is a less bad solution than I thought possible.

3. lessadjective

   ; smaller.

4. lessadjective

   A smaller amount (of); not as much.

5. lessadjective

   A smaller number of; fewer.

6. lesspreposition

   minus; not including

   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.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Less

   A negative or privative termination. Joined to a substantive, it implies the absence or privation of the thing expressed by that substantive: as, a witless man, a man without wit; childless, without children; fatherless, deprived of a father; pennyless, wanting money.

   Etymology: leas , Saxon; loos, Dutch.

2. Lessadjective

   The comparative of little: opposed to greater.

   Etymology: leas , Saxon.

   Mary, the mother of James the less. Mar. xv. 40.

   Yet could he not his closing eyes withdraw,
   Though less and less of Emily he saw. Dryden.

   He that thinks he has a positive idea of infinite space will find, that he can no more have a positive idea of the greatest than he has of the least space; for in this latter we are capable only of a comparative idea of smallness, which will always be less than any one whereof we have the positive idea. John Locke.

   All the ideas that are considered as having parts, and are capable of increase by the addition of any equal or less parts, affords us, by their repetition, the idea of infinity. John Locke.

   ’Tis less to conquer, than to make wars cease,
   And, without fighting, awe the world to peace. Charles Montagu.

3. Lessadverb

   In a smaller degree; in a lower degree.

   This opinion presents a less merry, but not less dangerous, temptation to those in adversity. Decay of Piety.

   The less space there is betwixt us and the object, and the more pure the air is, by so much the more the species are preserved and distinguished; and, on the contrary, the more space of air there is, and the less it is pure, so much the more the object is confused and embroiled. Dryden.

   Their learning lay chiefly in flourish; they were not much wiser than the less pretending multitude. Jeremy Collier, on Pride.

   The less they themselves want to receive from others, they will be less careful to supply the necessities of the indigent. George Smalridge, Sermons.

   Happy, and happy still, she might have prov’d,
   Were she less beautiful, or less belov’d. Alexander Pope, Statius.

4. Lessnoun

   Not so much; opposed to more.

   They gathered some more, some less. Exod. xvi. 17.

   Thy servant knew nothing of this, less or more. 1 Sam.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. less

   Less is an adjective, determiner, or adverb that refers to a smaller quantity, amount, or degree, used when comparing two or more entities or concepts. It indicates the inferior or the absence of something in comparison to another.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Less

   unless

2. Lessadjective

   smaller; not so large or great; not so much; shorter; inferior; as, a less quantity or number; a horse of less size or value; in less time than before

3. Lessadverb

   not so much; in a smaller or lower degree; as, less bright or loud; less beautiful

4. Lessnoun

   a smaller portion or quantity

5. Lessnoun

   the inferior, younger, or smaller

6. Lessverb

   to make less; to lessen

7. Etymology: [OE. lesse, AS. lssa; akin to OFries. lssa; a compar. from a lost positive form. Cf. Lesser, Lest, Least. Less has the sense of the comparative degree of little.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. less

   less is a terminal pager program on Unix, Windows, and Unix-like systems used to view the contents of a text file one screen at a time. It is similar to more, but has the extended capability of allowing both forward and backward navigation through the file. Unlike most Unix text editors/viewers, less does not need to read the entire file before starting, resulting in faster load times with large files.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Less

   les, adj. (serves as comp. of little) diminished: smaller.—adv. not so much: in a lower degree.—n. a smaller portion: (B.) the inferior or younger. [A.S. lǽssa, less, lǽs (adv.); comparative form from a root lasinn, feeble, found also in Goth. lasiws, weak, Ice. las, weakness, not conn. with little.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. less

   Song lyrics by less -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by less on the Lyrics.com website.

2. LESS

   What does LESS stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the LESS acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. LESS

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Less is ranked #28241 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Less surname appeared 847 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Less.
   
   93.1% or 789 total occurrences were White.
   2.9% or 25 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   2.3% or 20 total occurrences were Black.
   0.7% or 6 total occurrences were of two or more races.

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'less' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #343

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'less' in Written Corpus Frequency: #689

3. Adverbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'less' in Adverbs Frequency: #55

How to pronounce less?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say less in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of less in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of less in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of less in a Sentence

1. Toronto Mississauga paleontologist Kirstin Brink:

   It could take up to two years for a tooth to grow back in the big theropods like T. rex. Therefore, having specially reinforced teeth means less tooth breakage and less gaps in the jaw, leading to more efficient eating.

2. Ralph Speth:

   It is inevitable that we would face increasing and higher tariffs, making our products less competitive in Europe.

3. Joseph Scrocca:

   We believe it’s less than half of that now.

4. Zhu Zhiqun:

   It's a huge market that's going to become bigger and bigger, in some cities, less than 10 percent of factories and companies are operating normally.

5. Tristain Shury:

   The older you get, you will come to the realization that happiness in life is not always about having the best of everything. Some people are happier with less because they choose to make the best of what they have.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=less
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Less
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=less
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/less
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=less
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=less
8. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html