much less

Idioms

And certainly not, as in He rarely talks about his outside activities, much less his family. The earliest record of this idiom is in John Milton's Paradise Lost (1671): “The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It requires close contact of less than one meter for 30 minutes, he said, adding that hantavirus is "much less transmissible" than Covid-19 or the flu.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

That means everyone in the public will know much less about how important, market-leading firms are doing, and why.

From Slate • May 15, 2026

Yes, SARS-2 is still spreading and maiming people today, but widespread immunity from past infections and vaccines has made the virus much less deadly.

From Salon • May 11, 2026

But on either side stood empty piers whose planned allegorical statues by French had yet to be cast in bronze, much less installed.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

Steve drives us, which takes much less time than the bus.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023