less

英 [les] 美 [les]

• adj. 更少的；较少的
• adv. 更少地；较少地
• n. 少量；次要
• prep. 减

双解释义

adj. (形容词)

1. 较少的,更少的

   a smaller amount

adv. (副词)

1. 较少,更少,少

   smaller extent;not so much

详尽释义

adj. 形容词

1. 更小的，更少的
2. 较少的，较小的
3. 较次的，较劣的
4. 较不重要的
5. 身分较低的

null.

1. little的比较级

v. 动词

1. 减少，减轻

英英释义

Adjective:

1. (comparative of `little' usually used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree;

   "of less importance"
   "less time to spend with the family"
   "a shower uses less water"
   "less than three years old"
   

2. (usually preceded by `no') lower in quality;

   "no less than perfect"
   

3. (nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer;

   "less than three weeks"
   "no less than 50 people attended"
   "in 25 words or less"
   

Adverb:

1. used to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs;

   "less interesting"
   "less expensive"
   "less quickly"
   

2. comparative of little;

   "she walks less than she should"
   "he works less these days"
   

例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

1. It would be good to have less pollution.
   如果污染更少的话就好了。
2. He spends less time on work than on play.
   他在工作上花的时间比在玩上面花的时间更少。
3. It is better to complete the task with less money.
   最好是用较少的钱就能完成任务。

用作副词 (adv.)

1. The flaw in this vase makes it less valuable.
   这个花瓶因为有点缺陷，不那么值钱了。
2. Work more and dream less, you will be much happier.
   多做事少空想，这样你会愉快得多。
3. Malaria is less common in Britain.
   疟疾在英国较少见。
4. She found the job less and less attractive.
   她发觉那工作越来越缺乏吸引力。

用作名词 (n.)

1. There is less to do in this job than the last.
   这份工作没有上份工作量大。
2. It seems less of a threat than I'd expected.
   威胁性似乎比我预料的要小。

常见句型

用作形容词 (adj.)

用作定语

～+ n.

1. The firm has less money and fewer staff than last year.
   公司的资金和人员都比去年少了。
2. He has less money than ever.
   他从来没有过这样少的钱。
3. I received less money than the others did.
   我比别人收到的钱少。
4. The doctor advises me to eat less meat.
   医生劝我少吃肉。
5. Statistics show that people now drink less beer than they used to, and smoke fewer cigarettes.
   统计数字表明,人们现在比过去喝啤酒少了,而且烟抽也少了。
6. I love the country, but I have less opportunity of seeing it.
   我热爱乡村,但我几乎没有机会见到它。
7. He was reading hard and had less spare time
   他正在苦读,几乎没有空余时间。
8. Less people go to church than before.
   上教堂的人比以前少些。
9. Less noise, please!
   请不要大声吵闹!
10. It cost less money than I expected.
    它比我预料的要便宜。
11. The movie had less success than expected.
    影片没有获得预期的成功。
12. We got there in less than four hours.
    我们用了不到4个小时就到了那里。
13. Less people study Latin today than formerly.
    现在学习拉丁语的人比以前少。

用作表语

S+be+～

1. Nothing in this shop is less than ￡10.
   这家商店的东西没有低于10英镑的。

用作副词 (adv.)

1. Let's speak less and listen more.
   咱们少讲多听吧。
2. I read much less now than I did at school.
   我现在看书远比我上学时少。
3. With their children growing up, these mothers have become less involved with their families.
   随着孩子长大成人,这些母亲受家庭拖累就少些。
4. He was less known than his brother.
   他不如他哥哥出名。
5. I hope the next train will be less crowded than this one.
   我希望下趟火车不会像这趟这么挤。
6. I was less surprised as I had had this sort of experience.
   因为我有过这样的经验,所以并不感到怎么惊奇。
7. Try and speak less indistinctly.
   想法子说得清楚些。
8. Tomatoes are everywhere in summer but less so in winter.
   夏天到处都有西红柿,冬天却不是这样。

经典引文

• 19 is less than 20.

  出自： Joseph Harris

• And then the sighs he would suppress..grew less and less.

  出自： Byron

• Their number was less than ten.

  出自： A. N. Wilson

常用短语

用作形容词 (adj.)

no less than

不少于,多达 as much as

用作副词 (adv.)

less and less

越来越小〔少〕地 at a continually decreasing rate

much〔still〕 less

更不用说 certainly not

词汇搭配

用作形容词 (adj.)

～+名词

• less butter 较少的黄油
• less coffee 较少的咖啡
• less food 更少的食物
• less meat 更少的肉
• less money 更少的钱
• less noise 少一点噪音
• less time 较少的时间
• less work 更少的活儿

用作副词 (adv.)

动词+～

• know less 不知道
• rain less 降雨量少
• read less 读书少
• shout less 少喊
• speak less 少讲话
• work less 工作得少

～+形容词

• less cold 不冷
• less crowded 不挤
• less important 不重要
• less surprised 不惊奇

词语用法

adj. (形容词)

1. less是little的比较级,基本意思是“较少的,更少的”,指物体的体积或分量相对于别的物体少。
2. less多用来修饰不可数名词,但当名词前有数词或a few等修饰时,其后可接可数名词;在把时间、距离、金钱等短语看作是一个整体时, less可用来修饰可数名词;在有些短语中,说话人着眼于有关事物的大约的量,而不去细算精确的数额时, less可用来修饰可数名词;用在感叹句中, less后可接可数名词。
3. 由no less than连接的两个成分,其强势总是落在前面一个。

adv. (副词)

1. less用作副词时的意思是“较少,更少,少”,可用来修饰动词、形容词或副词。
2. less有时用在某些形容词前并无比较的意思,只是为了避免使用不大文雅的词语而采用的委婉说法,且less一般不可用于形容词的比较级前。
3. much〔still〕 less短语多半用于否定结构,用于肯定结构时,则须改用much〔still〕 more。

词义辨析

adj. (形容词)

less, lesser

• 这两个词都是little的比较级。其区别是：
• 1.less通常表示体积大小或者分量轻重;而lesser是正式用语,与价值或者重要性有关。例如:
• As far as I know, he was a lesser writer.据我所知,他是个次要作家。
• 2.lesser不可与than连用,且lesser在句中一般只能用作定语。
• 3.less可用作副词,而lesser则很少这样用。

not less than, not less...than

• 这两个短语在写法上很相似,但表达的意思却不同。not less than是“不少于”,多半用来作数量的比较。例如:
• There were not less than 50 members present at the meeting.出席会议的至少有50人。
• not less...than表示“不比…差”,多半用作程度的比较。例如:
• This tool-machine is not less useful than that one.这台机床使用起来不比那台差。

下面两句意思不同:

• There were no less than ten thousand people here.
• 今天,这里不少于10,000人。
• (只有这么多)
• There were not less than ten thousand people here.
• 今天这里有10,000出头的人。
• (至少有这么多)

adv. (副词)

下面两句话的意思是相同的:

• It is not possible to finish the work in a week, still less in three days.
• It is impossible to finish the work in a week, still more in three days.
• 这项工程用一星期完成是不可能的, 更别说三天了。

less，lesser

• 这两个词都是little的比较级，都可指“较少”或“较小”。less偏重于“not so much”的意思，lesser偏重于“not so great或smaller、minor、lower”的意思。它们都可用于数量、重量、程度、重要性、价值等方面，但在用法及跟其他词语搭配上有很大不同，二者不能互换。
• less所修饰的名词是不可数的，且没有冠词在前；less可带than，并指二者或多于二者的比较；
• lesser不用than，而用of，并只限于二者的比较；涉及程度、价值、重要性等方面时，一般用lesser（指 smaller，not so great，minor，lower）。

常见错误

adj. (形容词)

1. 她花在读课文上的时间比我少。

   误 She spent fewer time reading the text than I did.

   正 She spent less time reading the text than I did.

   析 fewer和less都表示“更少”的意思,但fewer只可以修饰可数名词,如修饰不可数名词则要用less。

2. 他不到30岁,但已断送了自己。

   误 He was less than thirty, but he was ruined.

   正 He was under thirty, but he was ruined.

   析 表示“不到多少岁”,英语习惯用under,而不用less than。

adv. (副词)

1. 在这两件衣服中,我拿了更便宜的那一件。

   误 Of the two suits,I took the least expensive one.

   正 Of the two suits,I took the less expensive one.

   析 在两个人或事物之间只能使用比较级,而不能使用最高级。

2. 今天比昨天冷。

   误 It is less colder than it was yesterday.

   正 It is less cold than it was yesterday.

   析 less不可用在形容词的比较级前。

词源解说

• ☆ 直接源自古英语的lassa，意为少的。

近反义词

【近义词】

• reduced 减少的
• fewer 少的
• minus 负的
• smaller 较小的
• minor 轻微的
• below 低于
• secondary 次要的
• without 没有
• more 更多的
• take away 拿走
• excluding 除…之外
• lower 低的
• to a lesser extent 在较小程度上...
• lesser 较少的

【反义词】

• more 更多的