Least vs All - What's the difference?
least | all |
(little);The smallest amount of [something .
* 1857 , (Edmund March Blunt), The American Coast Pilot: Containing Directions for the Principal Harbors , E. & G.W. Blunt, page 135:
* John Duncan, Duncan's Travels
* , chapter=5
, title= *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.}}
* 2004 , Jim Baggott, Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory , Oxford University Press, page 48:
Used for forming superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding -est .
In the smallest or lowest degree; in a degree below all others.
(degree) (intensifier).
Apiece; each.
* 1878 , Gerard Manley Hopkins,
(degree) So much.
(dialect, Pennsylvania) All gone; dead.
(obsolete, poetic) even; just
* Spenser
* Gay
Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).
:
*
*:In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. In this way all respectable burgesses, down to fifty years ago, spent their evenings.
*, chapter=1
, title= Throughout the whole of (a stated period of time; generally used with units of a day or longer).
: (= through the whole of the day and the whole of the night.)
: (= from the beginning of the year until now.)
Everyone.
:
Everything.
:
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3
, passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
(lb) Any.
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:without all remedy
Only; alone; nothing but.
:
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:I was born to speak all mirth and no matter.
(with a possessive pronoun) Everything possible.
(countable) The totality of one's possessions.
* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, pp. 37-8:
(obsolete) although
* (rfdate) Spenser
As a determiner least
is (little);the smallest amount of [something.As an adverb least
is used for forming superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding -est .As an initialism all is
lek, currency used in albania.least
English
Determiner
(en-det) (comparative less)- The least water we could find there was 4 fathoms, which bears from the point S.E., and is distant 1½ mile.
- To have demolished and rebuilt the walls, would have been a very costly expedient, and as the least of two evils, the painter's brush was resorted to; here and there however, above some of the windows, the black wreathings of the smoke are still discernible through the white covering.
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=“Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.}}
- Light does not need to know in advance which is the path of least time because it takes all paths from its source to its destination.
Usage notes
Some grammarians recommend to use least'' only with uncountable nouns, as in the examples above with the ''smallest amount of sense: * 1965 , H. W. Fowler, Fowler’s Modern English Usage: Second Edition : *: [W]hen the context—unemotional statement of everyday facts—is taken into account, at a less price'' ought to be ''at a lower price'', and ''a lesser prize'' ought to be ''a smaller prize . To such grammarians least'' is the superlative of ''a little'', not that of ''little'', so it does not mean ''smallest'', but ''the smallest amount of''. With plural nouns, they recommend ''fewest .Adverb
- It was the least surprising thing.
- to reward those who least deserve it
Antonyms
* mostDerived terms
(terms derived from "least") * at least * last but not least * least bittern * least common denominator * least flycatcher * least of all * least resistance * least sandpiper * least shrew * least upper bound * least weasel * log-linear least-squares method * method of least squares * not the least bit * path of least resistance * to say the leastStatistics
*Anagrams
* English degree adverbsall
English
Adverb
(-)- You’ve got it all wrong.
- She was all , “Whatever.”
- The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.
- His locks like all a ravel-rope’s-end,
- With hempen strands in spray
- Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.
- The butter is all .
- All as his straying flock he fed.
- A damsel lay deploring / All on a rock reclined.
Synonyms
* completelyDeterminer
(en determiner)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path
Noun
- She gave her all , and collapsed at the finish line.
- she therefore ordered Jenny to pack up her alls and begone, for that she was determined she should not sleep that night within her walls.
Derived terms
* a bit of all right * after all * all about * all along * all-American * all and sundry * all-around * all around * all at once * All Blacks * all but * all clear * all-comers * all-day * all-embracing * all-encompassing * all fingers and thumbs * all-fire * All Fools' Day * all for * All Hallows * All Hallows' Day * all hands on deck * allheal * all-important * all in * all-in * all in all * all-in wrestling * all-inclusive * all-knowing * all-night * all-nighter * all of a sudden * all one * all one's life's worth * all or nothing * all-out * all over * all-over * all-overish * all over the place * all over with * all-party * all-powerful * all-purpose * all right * all-round * all-rounder * All Saints' Day * allseed * all-seeing * * allsorts * All Souls' Day * allspice * all square * all-star * all systems go * all that * all the best * all the more * all the same * all the way * all-time * all together * all told * all-too-familiar * all-up * all-up service * all up with * all very well * all-weather * and all * and all that * at all * be all ears * be-all and end-all * best of all * bugger all * catchall * coveralls * cure-all * for all * for good and all * fuck all * give one's all * go all the way * in all * know-it-all * most of all * naff all * not all there * not at all * on all fours * once and for all * overalls * sod all * when all is said and doneSee also
* any * each * every * everyone * everything * none * some *Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)- All they were wondrous loth.
