less

adverb
/lɛs/

Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.

Example

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

Other meanings

To a smaller extent or degree.
“The grammar book was less than (that is, not at all) helpful.”

Synonyms

to a lesser extent

Example sentences

“I'm trying to be less passive-aggressive.”
Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0
“The more you learn, the less you know.”
Tatoeba · Igider · CC0
“The musician releases her less successful works into the public domain.”
Tatoeba · hecko · CC0

Word history

From Old English "lǣs" (smaller, less).

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “less” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.