Less

How to spell less

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce less

What does less mean?

1. determinerA smaller amount of something; not as much.
2. adverbTo a smaller extent or degree.
3. prepositionMinus; with a stated amount taken away.

Less in a sentence

• determiner

  The new contract gives us less time to finish the project.

• adverb

  He was less nervous once the interview began.

• preposition

  The final payment is the total less the deposit you already paid.

• determiner

  She spends less money now that she cooks at home.

• adverb

  The second draft felt less rushed than the first.

• preposition

  Her take-home pay is the salary less tax and insurance.

Where does less come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is one of the oldest words in English, descending directly from the Old English forms læssa (an adjective) and læs (an adverb), both meaning 'smaller in size or amount'. These came from a Proto-Germanic root that is thought to have meant 'small' or 'slight', a sense that survives in its modern role as the natural opposite of 'more'. Although it works as the comparative of 'little', the two words are not actually related: 'little' has its own separate root, and English simply pressed 'less' into service to fill the gap. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years, and the same root gives us the everyday suffix '-less', as in 'careless' and 'hopeless', which still carries the original idea of being without something. Because the word is short and phonetic, its only real trap is the doubled 's', which writers occasionally drop.

How the word is built

• less (from Old English læs, the comparative of little); a single root word with no prefix or suffix