Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Smaller in amount, value, or importance, especially in a comparison between two things: chose the lesser evil.
- adj. Of a smaller size than other, similar forms: the lesser anteater.
- adv. Less. Used before a participle: a lesser-known writer.
- n. One that is lower in importance, rank, magnitude, or degree: the lesser of two evils.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- adj. comparative form of little: more little
- adj. of two things, the smaller in size, value, importance etc.
- n. a thing that is of smaller size, value, importance etc.
GNU Webster's 1913
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of less size or importance
- adj. smaller in size or amount or value
Etymologies
- less + -er (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from lesse, less; see less. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term lesser epic includes the numerous forms of narrative poems from the old-time ballad to the modern story-telling poem.”
“The evil is in letting our feelings deny other people their rightful place as human beings inhabiting the same planet, experiencing the universal prospect that one day in the not too distant future, what we call lesser creatures will inhabit the earth, and there will be no more any such thing as one human being harboring racial hatred for another.”
Firedoglake » Late Night FDL: The Fork in the Road – The Right and Race Online
“Aides to Rumsfeld insist that this kind of a deployment falls under what he calls a lesser contingency that the U.S. is prepared to take care of even while it's involved in major operation like what's going on in Iraq.”
“Consequently the lesser is and to be affected more or less by the greater, and, therefore, we find that this country is gradually assimilating American, ideas with regard to almost everything.”
Three Imperial Topics: Imperial Ignorance; Imperial History; Imperial Unity
“Campbell said he also intends to talk testify about the impact of military, which he called the lesser of two evils, on Juarez and its people.”
“To think of Hinayana as somehow "lesser" is significantly to misunderstand Tibetan views, in which so-called”
“She has deftly tackled subject matter that in lesser hands could have been maudlin, even trite — but has triumphed in a way that elevates us.”
February « 2009 « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground
“What might, in lesser hands, have evolved into an overly familiar revenge scenario becomes, instead, a viscerally effective narrative and an empathetic reflection on the consequences of male aggression.”
The Washington Post: "Full Dark, No Stars," four novellas by horror writer Stephen King
“What follows is a story about loss and learning to live that could have felt awfully familiar in lesser hands.”
“But with scripts in lesser hands, that could happen as early as season 4 — and that would be a shame.”
Alynda Wheat's Beat Cop: Having fun storming the 'Castle' | EW.com
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lesser’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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ifjuly's list
favorite words. some are made up injokes between me and my husband or family.
skein, zaftig, july, bed, orifice, aesthete, ink, parce-que, desormais, cake, pusillanimous, pulse and 531 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...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for lesser.
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