less than

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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.

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IS and ARE are both forms of which verb?

have

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Words nearby less than

lesser zygomatic muscle, Lessing, Lessing, Doris, lesson, lessor, less than, lest, Lester, lestobiosis, lest we forget, Lésvos

How to use less than in a sentence

Submission is less a novel of ideas than a political book, and of the most subversive kind.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Back in New York, the slow pace and inward focus of her yoga practice was less fulfilling.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
For many years afterward it was a never-ending topic of conversation, and is more or less talked of even to this day.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
No one wants to align with less freedom at a time like this.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The pulps brought new readers to serious fiction, making it less intimidating with alluring art and low prices.
How Pulp Fiction Saved Literature|Wendy Smith|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In less than ten minutes, the bivouac was broken up, and our little army on the march.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
He was too drowsy to hold the thought more than a moment in his mind, much less to reflect upon it.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
He did believe you, more or less, and what you said fell in with his own impressions—strange impressions that they were, poor man!
Confidence|Henry James
One would not have wanted her white neck a mite less full or her beautiful arms more slender.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
With childlike confidence he follows the advice of some more or less honest dealer.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills

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