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Cheap vs Less - What's the difference?

cheap | less |

As adjectives the difference between cheap and less

is that cheap is low and/or reduced in price while less is comparative of little; smaller.

As verbs the difference between cheap and less

is that cheap is to trade; traffic; bargain; chaffer; ask the price of goods; cheapen goods while less is to make less; to lessen.

As adverbs the difference between cheap and less

is that cheap is cheaply while less is to smaller extent.

As a noun cheap

is trade; traffic; chaffer; chaffering.

As a preposition less is

minus; not including.

As a conjunction less is

unless.

cheap

English

Alternative forms

* (l), (l) (dialectal)

Noun

(en noun)
  • Trade; traffic; chaffer; chaffering.
  • A market; marketplace.
  • Price.
  • A low price; a bargain.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe.
  • Cheapness; lowness of price; abundance of supply.
  • Adjective

    (er)
  • Low and/or reduced in price.
  • * John Locke
  • Where there are a great sellers to a few buyers, there the thing to be sold will be cheap .
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • Of poor quality.
  • Of little worth.
  • * Dryden
  • You grow cheap in every subject's eye.
  • (slang, of an action or tactic in a game of skill) underhand; dubious.
  • (derogatory) Frugal; stingy.
  • Synonyms
    * bargain, inexpensive, frugal, no frills, priced-off * (of poor quality) flimsy
    Antonyms
    * (low or reduced in price) dear, expensive, high-priced, pricey, * (of low value) precious, valuable
    See also
    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To trade; traffic; bargain; chaffer; ask the price of goods; cheapen goods.
  • (obsolete) To bargain for; chaffer for; ask the price of; offer a price for; cheapen.
  • (obsolete) To buy; purchase.
  • (obsolete) To sell.
  • Usage notes

    Use of cheap as a verb has been surpassed by .

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Cheaply.
  • (Milton)

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    less

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • To smaller extent.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
  • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.}}
  • In lower degree.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation
  • , passage=That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past. }}

    Antonyms

    * more

    Adjective

  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 141:
  • Those Rattels are somewhat like the chape of a Rapier, but lesse [...].
  • A smaller amount (of); not as much.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}
  • (proscribed) A smaller number of; fewer.
  • * 1952 , Thomas M Pryor, New York Times , 7 Sep 1952:
  • This is not a happy situation as far as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes is concerned because it means less jobs for the union's members here at home.
  • * 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 555:
  • No less than four standard-bearers went before them, carrying huge crimson banners emblazoned with the golden lion.
  • * 2003 , Timandra Harkness, The Guardian , 16 Dec 2003:
  • Although my hosts, G S Aviation, can teach you to fly in Wiltshire, an intensive week at their French airfield means less problems with the weather, cheap but good living, and complete removal from any distractions.

    Usage notes

    Antonyms

    * more

    See also

    * fewer

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • Minus; not including
  • It should then tax all of that as personal income, less the proportion of the car's annual mileage demonstrably clocked up on company business.

    Antonyms

    * plus

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To make less; to lessen.
  • (Gower)

    Derived terms

    * less is more * more or less * nevertheless

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (obsolete) unless
  • (Ben Jonson)