least concern

American  

[leest kuhn-surn] / ˈlist kənˈsɜrn /

adjective

Biology, Ecology.

1. (of a plant or animal species) assessed to be thriving, with a distribution or population status that is neither threatened nor near threatened, as categorized by the IUCN Red List: LC

   Among the least concern birds on our favorite watches are the sandhill cranes and the pied-billed grebes.

---

Etymology

Origin of least concern

First recorded in 1995–2000

Example Sentences

The authors also considered threat levels -- for example "threatened," "endangered" or "least concern," -- for 163,000 species as assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

From Science Daily • Oct. 27, 2025

Last month the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified them from "least concern" to "endangered".

From BBC • Jan. 5, 2024

Then Janowitz contacted environmental groups and mapped the areas where they would have the least concern for the construction of new solar farms.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 4, 2023

The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies them as a species of least concern, meaning that they are not threatened or in need of conservation efforts.

From New York Times • May 25, 2023

“That is my least concern; I am, by a course of strange events, become the most miserable of mortals. Persecuted and tortured as I am and have been, can death be any evil to me?”

From "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley