Etimology
Adverb From Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣs (“smaller, less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, be gentle”).(Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) Cognate with Old Frisian lēs (“less”), Old Saxon lēs (“less”). According to Kroonen (2013), from a northern Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-, which he connects to Lithuanian liesas (“lean”). Determiner and preposition from Middle English lees, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣssa (“less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisizan-, from Proto-Germanic *laisiz (“smaller, lesser, fewer, lower”) (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian lessa (“less”). Verb from Middle English lessen, from the determiner. Noun from Middle English lesse, from the determiner.
adverb
less (diminutive comparative)
comparative degree of little
Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.
To a smaller extent or degree.
Examples
I slept even less last night than I did the night before.
I like him less each time I see him.
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.
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.
In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.
The grammar book was less than helpful.
That this is a positive one makes it no less a stereotype, and therefore unacceptable.
Related words
antonyms
more
determiner
less
(Now chiefly of numbers or dimensions) comparative form of little: more little; of inferior size, degree or extent; smaller, lesser. [from 11th c.]
A smaller amount of; not as much. [from 12th c.]
(proscribed) Fewer; a smaller number of. [from 14th c.]
Examples
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 than a line representing the locus of such centres for a parabolic section […]
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 above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
There are less people here now.
Now there are three less green bottles hanging on the wall.
... 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.
No less than four standard-bearers went before them, carrying huge crimson banners emblazoned with the golden lion.
Although my hosts, G S Aviation, can teach you to fly in Wiltshire, an intensive week at their French airfield means less problems with the weather, cheap but good living, and complete removal from any distractions.
Related words
antonyms
more
preposition
less
Minus; not including
Examples
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.
Related words
antonyms
plus
verb
less (third-person singular simple present lesses, present participle lessing, simple past and past participle lessed)
(archaic) To make less; to lessen.
Examples
What he will make lesse, he lesseth.
Som of the wiser sort, divining upon this vission, attrebute to the pen-knyves the lenth of tym before this should com to pass, and it hath been observed by sindrie that the earles of that hous befor wer the richest in the kingdom, having treasure and store besyde them, but ever since the addittion of this so great a revenue, they have lessed the stock by heavie burdens of debt and ingagment.
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;
adjective
less (not comparable)
(archaic) Lesser; smaller.
Examples
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
less (uncountable)
A smaller amount or quantity.
Examples
Less is better.
I have less to do today than yesterday.
Etimology
From Middle English lesse, les, from Old English lǣs, as in þȳ lǣs þe.
conjunction
less
(dialectal, nonstandard) unless
Examples
To tell you true, 'tis too good for you, 'less you had grace to follow it