least
UK /liːst/ · US /list/ adjective, determiner, adverb, noun, pronoun, prepositional phrase
Forms leasts 'least
- adjective Chiefly used with abstract nouns: less than all others in extent or size; littlest, smallest. “least common multiple”
- adjective Of two or more animals or plants with the same name: the smaller or smallest. “least weasel”
- adjective (archaic) Lowest in importance or status; most insignificant or unimportant.
- adjective (obsolete) Followed by an agent noun: of a person: who does some action to the smallest degree.
- determiner Smallest in amount or extent. “He earns the least money in his family.”
- determiner Followed by a plural noun: the smallest number of; the fewest. “Whichever queue contains the least items by the time this logic branch is reached will be executed first.”
- determiner (chiefly in the negative) Any, no matter how small in amount or extent. “not even the least amount”
- adverb In a degree below all others; in the lowest or smallest degree. “My best routine was the one I had practised the least.”
- adverb Used to form superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding -est. “It was the least surprising thing.”
- noun Preceded by the: superlative form of little: most little; the lowest-ranking or most insignificant person or (sometimes) group of people. “even the least of”
- noun (philosophy) Something of the smallest possible extent; an indivisible unit; a minimum.
- pronoun Chiefly preceded by the: superlative form of little: most little; the smallest amount or extent of something. “I’m giving least of all towards her present.”
- prepositional phrase (informal, nonstandard) At least.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
The adjective, determiner, and noun are derived from Middle English leste, lest, last (“(adjective) smallest, least; (noun) smallest thing, etc.; person or thing least in importance; etc.”), from Old English lǣst, a contraction of læsast, læsest (“least”) (also lærest in only one source), from Proto-Germanic *laisistaz (“smallest, least”), from *laisiz (“less”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-; whence modern English less) + *-istaz (“suffix forming superlative forms of some adjectives”).
The adverb and pronoun are derived from the adjective or determiner.
* Old Frisian leist
* Old Saxon lēs
Contraction of at least.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Smallest, either in size or degree; shortest; lowest; most unimportant; as, the least insect; the least mercy; the least space.
- adverb In the smallest or lowest degree; in a degree below all others; as, to reward those who least deserve it.
- conjunction See Lest, conj. [Obs.] Spenser.
Etymology [OE. last, lest, AS. l, l, superl. of l less. See Less, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “least”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details