less

adv

1. (comparative, diminutive, form-of)comparative degree of little

   “I slept even less last night than I did the night before.”

   “I like him less each time I see him.”

   “All my cares grew less until completely gone.”

   “I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.”

2. (comparative, diminutive)Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.

   “Randal is less welcome than Rachel but as her spouse we should invite them both.”

   “This gadget is less useful than I expected.”

   “I'm not any less happy for being on my own.”

   “This section of space is much less empty than that between the stars, […]”

   “That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.”

3. (comparative, diminutive)To a smaller extent or degree.

   “The grammar book was less than (that is, not at all) helpful.”

   “That this is a positive one makes it no less a stereotype, and therefore unacceptable.”

det

1. (comparative, form-of)comparative form of little: more little; of inferior size, degree or extent; smaller, lesser.

   “Those Rattels are somewhat like the chape of a Rapier, but lesse, which they take from the taile of a snake.”

   “We are likewise ready to maintain with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six is less than seven in all times and all places […].”

   “It is also easy to see that the straight line, representing the locus of centres of buoyancy for a rectangular section, must lie at a less inclination to the base (i.e., to the horizontal) than a line representing the locus of such centres for a parabolic section […]”

2. A smaller amount of; not as much.

   “No less than eight pints of beer.”

   “I have less tea than coffee.”

   “You have even less sense than an inanimate object.”

   “Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.”

3. (nonstandard, proscribed)Fewer; a smaller number of.

   “There are less people here now.”

   “Now there are three less green bottles hanging on the wall.”

   “I thinke there are few Vniuersities that haue lesse faultes than Oxford, many that haue more.”

   “... on his land he will have less manure, less corn, and less people; ...”

   “This is not a happy situation as far as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes is concerned because it means less jobs for the union's members here at home.”

prep

1. 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.”

verb

1. (archaic)To make less; to lessen.

   “1386-90, Gower, Confessio Amantis What he will make lesse, he lesseth.”

   “The protracted term of life, and the lingering illness through which this gentleman had passed, had neither impaired the original vigour of his mind, nor lessed the uncommon warmth of his affections.”

   “Soon as I lessed the tree of this, it waned — Less cause, gave less effect”

   “The scattered beauties thro' the air, Have lessed the woe, the dread, the care;”

2. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of let's.

adj

1. (archaic, not-comparable)Lesser; smaller.

   “Such too, to a greater or less extent, is the condition of the operatives of every denomination in England, which is the great workhouse of the world.”

   “This he said, thinking that Alan would be pleased; but the Highlandman’s vanity was ready to startle at a less matter than that.”

noun

1. (uncountable)A smaller amount or quantity.

   “Less is better.”

   “I have less to do today than yesterday.”

2. (form-of, plural)plural of LES

conj

1. (dialectal, nonstandard)unless

   “To tell you true, 'tis too good for you, 'less you had grace to follow it”