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to say the least

Idioms  

  1. Not to exaggerate, as in When the ring turned up in the lost and found, she was delighted, to say the least. This idiom was first recorded in 1809.

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.

In it, they definitely look like people who know one another, to say the least.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026

It’s not a company-altering fine, to say the least.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026

Elsewhere in the capital, 14-year-old Dunia Hassaballaa from Dahieh said this week had been "pretty scary to say the least".

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2026

The path from these relatively reasonable speculations to nuclear apocalypse is, to say the least, another matter.

From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026

It was a precarious existence, to say the least.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.