{
    "term": "less",
    "partOfSpeech": "determiner, pronoun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used with uncountable nouns to mean ‘a smaller amount of’",
            "sensetop": "less somethingless to doless of somethingless than…less of something than…",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "less butter/time/importance",
                    "contextForm": "less something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Smaller companies that had fewer employees and less revenue also experienced problems."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We have less to worry about now.",
                    "contextForm": "less to do"
                },
                {
                    "text": "They say we should exercise and eat less of some kinds of fat.",
                    "contextForm": "less of something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "We'll be there in **less than no time** *(= very soon)*.",
                    "contextForm": "less than…"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The victory was **nothing less than** a miracle."
                },
                {
                    "text": "It is **less of** a problem **than** I'd expected.",
                    "contextForm": "less of something than…"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "smaller and smaller amounts; at a rate that is decreasing",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "As time passed, she saw less and less of all her old friends at home."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There used to be TV shows that everyone would watch at the same time and talk about the next day, but that happens less and less."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "including only what is essential can create a more effective product or result",
            "labels": "(saying)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "His simple, elegant paintings reflect his principle that less is more."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to suggest that something is surprising or impressive",
            "labels": "(often ironic)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "She's having lunch with the Director, no less."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to emphasize a large amount",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The seller expects to get no less than $10 000 for the artwork."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/les/",
                "audio": "le/less/less__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/les/",
                "audio": "le/less/less__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Old English lǣssa, of Germanic origin; related to Old Frisian lēssa, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek loisthos ‘last’."
}