less than

Idioms  

1. Not at all or hardly at all. For example, He had a less than favorable view of the matter, or She had a less than adequate grasp of the subject. This expression uses less in the sense of “a smaller quantity, number, or extent than is implied,” a usage dating from about a.d. 1000. The same sense appears in less than no time, a hyperbolic term for a very short time (as in Don't worry, he'll be here in less than no time) that dates from about 1800.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

less than

The decline in commercial property and casualty volumes was less than expected in the second quarter, the analysts add.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

It happened less than 24 hours after two passengers were seriously injured in a separate derailment in East Sussex.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

It helped that, from 1982 to 2021, the rate on a 30-year mortgage collapsed from a peak of 18% to less than 3%.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

More than 70 percent of its population of 22 million lives on less than three US dollars a day, according to the World Bank.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

On November 1, 1890, less than a year after Maggie’s confession, Leah’s heart failed due to “nervous excitability.”

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock