Less vs Abate - What's the difference?
less | abate |
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.
(transitive, obsolete, outside, legal) To put an end to; to cause to cease.
To become null and void.
(legal) To nullify; make void.
(obsolete) To humble; to lower in status; to bring someone down physically or mentally.
*
(obsolete) To be humbled; to be brought down physically or mentally.
(obsolete) To curtail; to deprive.
* 1605 , , King Lear , II.ii:
To reduce in amount, size, or value.
*
To decrease in size, value, or amount.
To moderate; to lessen in force, intensity, to subside.
* 1597 , , [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/575 Essays or Counsels, Civil and Morall] :
* 1855 , , History of England from the Accession of James II, Part 3 , [http://books.google.com/books?id=MN5CNdgbSTYC&pg=PA267 page 267]:
To decrease in intensity or force; to subside.
* :
To deduct or omit.
* 1845 , , The Church History of Britain , Volume 3, [http://books.google.com/books?id=OfefAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA100 page 100]:
To bar or except.
*
To cut away or hammer down, in such a way as to leave a figure in relief, as a sculpture, or in metalwork.
(obsolete) To dull the edge or point of; to blunt.
(archaic) To destroy, or level to the ground.
* 1542 , , The Union of the Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York :
(legal) To enter a tenement without permission after the owner has died and before the heir takes possession.
As an adverb less
is to smaller extent.As an adjective less
is .As a preposition less
is minus; not including.As a verb less
is (obsolete) to make less; to lessen.As a conjunction less
is (obsolete) unless.As a noun abate is
.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)
Derived terms
* less is more * more or less * neverthelessabate
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) abaten, from (etyl) . Cognate to modern French abattre .Verb
(abat)- to abate a nuisance
- The writ has abated .
- to abate a writ
- The hyer that they were in this present lyf, the moore shulle they be abated and defouled in helle.
- Order restrictions and prohibitions to abate an emergency situation.
- She hath abated me of half my train.
- Legacies are liable to be abated entirely or in proportion, upon a deficiency of assets.
- His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated .
- Not that they feel it so, but only to abate the edge of envy.
- The fury of Glengarry rapidly abated .
- We will abate this price from the total.
- Allowing nine thousand parishes (abating the odd hundreds) in England and Wales
- Abating his brutality, he was a very good master.
- The kynge of Scottes planted his siege before the castell of Norham, and sore abated the walls.