Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lowest in importance or rank.
- adj. Smallest in magnitude or degree.
- adj. Slightest or tiniest: didn't care the least bit.
- adv. To or in the lowest or smallest degree.
- n. One that is the lowest or smallest in importance, rank, magnitude, or degree: The dinner menu is the least of my worries tonight. The least you can do is to be polite.
- idiom. at least According to the lowest possible assessment; not less than: waited at least an hour.
- idiom. at least In any event; anyway: You might at least answer.
- idiom. in the least At all: I don't mind in the least.
- idiom. least of all Particularly not: Nobody cared, least of all the manager.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Smallest; little in size or degree, etc., beyond all others: answering as superlative to little.
- In the smallest or lowest degree; in a degree below all others: as, to reward those who least deserve it.
- An obsolete spelling of lest.
Wiktionary
- adv. Used for forming superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding -est.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Smallest, either in size or degree; shortest; lowest; most unimportant
- adv. In the smallest or lowest degree; in a degree below all others.
- conj. obsolete See lest, conj.
WordNet 3.0
- n. something that is of no importance
- adv. used to form the superlative
- adj. the superlative of `little' that can be used with mass nouns and is usually preceded by `the'; a quantifier meaning smallest in amount or extent or degree
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English lǣst; see leis-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Wait till she sends for you at least -- _at least_.”
“The teaching seems to be that for one to deliberately break even the least commandment, while he will be saved ( "The least _in the kingdom of Heaven_") yet he will have no reward ( "_The least_ in the kingdom of Heaven").”
“At least in the countries where the greatest stress has been laid on that influence, and the greatest exertions made for it, the _least good_ has been done -- the Queen means in Spain, Portugal, and Greece.”
“And, considering all meals in Italy consist of at least five courses, I actually did put on some weight -- since my hair grew about a quarter-inch, I figger I gained at * least* an ounce ...”
“At least," Mildred Lorimer wept, "at _least_, Stephen, make them keep it a secret!”
“A somewhat tedious end to what at least is only a duology, as the good guys and bad guys at least from the point of our protagonist run around with their plotting and killing.”
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: A Man Rides Through - Stephen Donaldson
“It is believed to be the title least requiring explanation, if, indeed, it requires any explanation at all.”
“Am I wrong to suggest that attaching arguments to me that I did not make in the least is a disingenuous tactic?”
“Not the least is the need for the Federal Bureaucracy to turn the legislative language into codified regulations (all subject to hearings and review, etc).”
“I gave my attention to what I called the least unattractive of my options yeah, a double negative, might need to read that twice! because in truth, none of them looked that good.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘least’.
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EN - Glasgow stop list
Words to be replaced by a paragraph mark if you are after terms and MWEs.
yours, yourself, yet, your, without, you, within, will, yourselves, would, why, with and 291 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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no little thing
it bothers me when i hear someone who have experienced something life changing use the phrase: now i appreciate the little things. I DON'T BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY LITTLE THINGS. everything is EXTRAOR...
letters, living, understand, narrow, behavior, personal, need, meant, untamed, world, soldier, 'cause and 241 more...
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bootload's Words
grouse, beaut, ripper, gassit, hack, hacking, twit, spon, goon, rosella, magpie, galah and 184 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Bird Wirds: Adjectives
Adjectives used in actual (non-taxonomic) bird names, past and present.
roseate, glossy, whooping, neotropic, pelagic, ferruginous, crested, whiskered, marbled, tufted, horned, eared and 818 more...
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Aeonn's Words
discombobulation, dank, crass, abolishment, quite, ubiquitous, crank, catapult, sponge, click, queer, irish and 124 more...
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faux comparatives
temp, temper, tempest, hone, honer, honest, dive, diver, divest, earn, earner, earnest and 46 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for least.
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