least concern

[leest kuhn-surn]

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of least concern¹

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.

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If a species becomes more at risk - for example, its numbers fall or its habitat is damaged - it may be moved to a higher-risk category such as Endangered; if it recovers thanks to conservation efforts, it may shift to a lower-risk category like Near Threatened or Least Concern.

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The green turtle has been downgraded from Endangered to Least Concern.

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers the species to be of “least concern.”

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Today, the whales have recovered to the point that they are considered a species of “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, though the organization considers the western population of the whales that lives off Asia to be endangered.

Read more on Seattle Times