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Hope vs Less - What's the difference?

hope | less |

As verbs the difference between hope and less

is that hope is to want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might while less is to make less; to lessen.

As a noun hope

is the belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.

As a proper noun Hope

is {{given name|female|from=English}} from the virtue, like Faith and Charity first used by Puritans.

As an adverb less is

to smaller extent.

As an adjective less is

comparative of little; smaller.

As a preposition less is

minus; not including.

As a conjunction less is

unless.

hope

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) hope, from (etyl) .

Noun

  • (uncountable) The belief or expectation that something wished for can or will happen.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out.}}
  • (countable) The actual thing wished for.
  • (countable) A person or thing that is a source of hope.
  • (Christianity) The virtuous desire for future good.
  • * The Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:13
  • But now abideth faith, hope , love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
    Derived terms
    * Cape of Good Hope * forlorn hope * great white hope * have one's hope dashed * hope against hope * hope chest * hopeful * hopeless * hoper * hope springs eternal * no-hoper * out of hope * overhope * unhope * wanhope

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) hopen, from (etyl) hopian.

    Verb

    (hop)
  • To want something to happen, with a sense of expectation that it might.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}
  • To be optimistic; be full of hope; have hopes.
  • (obsolete) To place confidence; to trust with confident expectation of good; usually followed by in .
  • * Bible, Psalms cxix. 81
  • I hope in thy word.
  • * Bible, Psalms xlii. 11
  • Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God.
    Usage notes
    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See
    Derived terms
    * hoped for
    See also
    * aspire * desire * expect * look forward * want

    Etymology 3

    Compare Icelandic word for a small bay or inlet.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sloping plain between mountain ridges.
  • (Scotland) A small bay; an inlet; a haven.
  • (Jamieson)
    (Webster 1913)

    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)