Great vs Less - What's the difference?
great | less |
Very big, large scale.
:
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=7 *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Timothy Garton Ash)
, volume=189, issue=6, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Very good.
:
*, chapter=5
, title= Important.
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:He doth object I am too great of birth.
*
*:“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
Title referring to an important leader.
:
Superior; admirable; commanding; applied to thoughts, actions, and feelings.
:
Endowed with extraordinary powers; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; strong; powerful; mighty; noble.
:
(lb) Pregnant; large with young.
*(Bible), (Psalms) lxxviii. 71
*:the ewes great with young
More than ordinary in degree; very considerable.
:
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:We have all / Great' cause to give ' great thanks.
*
*:Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;.
*'>citation
Intimate; familiar.
*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
*:those that are so great with him
Expression of gladness and content about something.
sarcastic inversion thereof.
A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.
A course of academic study devoted to the works of such persons and also known as Literae Humaniores ; the "Greats" name has official status with respect to 's program and is widely used as a colloquialism in reference to similar programs elsewhere.
(music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
very well (in a very satisfactory manner)
To smaller extent.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= 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
, 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. }}
* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 141:
A smaller amount (of); not as much.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= (proscribed) A smaller number of; fewer.
* 1952 , Thomas M Pryor, New York Times , 7 Sep 1952:
* 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 555:
* 2003 , Timandra Harkness, The Guardian , 16 Dec 2003:
Minus; not including
(obsolete) To make less; to lessen.
As verbs the difference between great and less
is that great is while less is (obsolete) to make less; to lessen.As an adverb less is
to smaller extent.As an adjective less is
.As a preposition less is
minus; not including.As a conjunction less is
(obsolete) unless.great
English
(wikipedia great)Adjective
(er)citation, passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like // Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer.
citation, passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.
Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli, passage=Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.}}
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights,
Usage notes
In simple situations, using modifiers of intensity such as fairly'', ''somewhat , etc. can lead to an awkward construction, with the exception of certain common expressions such as “so great” and “really great”. In particular “very great” is unusually strong as a reaction, and in many cases “great” or its meaning of “very good” will suffice.Synonyms
* See also * See alsoDerived terms
* great big * great chamber * great hall * great room * greatly * greatnessInterjection
(en interjection)- Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.
- Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order.
Noun
(en noun)- Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.
- Spencer read Greats at Oxford, taking a starred first.
Adverb
(-)- Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don't have to be sharpened.
Derived terms
* greatly * greatness (compound terms) * just great * great big * great aunt * Great Dane * great-granddaughter * great granddaughter * great-grandfather * great grandfather * great-grandmother * great grandmother * great-grandson * great grandson * great uncle * Great Wall of China * great white sharkStatistics
*less
English
Adverb
(-)Katrina G. Claw
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.}}
citation
Antonyms
* moreAdjective
- Those Rattels are somewhat like the chape of a Rapier, but lesse [...].
William E. Conner
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.}}
- 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.
- No less than four standard-bearers went before them, carrying huge crimson banners emblazoned with the golden lion.
- 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
* moreSee also
* fewerPreposition
(English prepositions)- 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
* plusVerb
- (Gower)