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Less vs Fess - What's the difference?

less | fess |

As verbs the difference between less and fess

is that less is (obsolete) to make less; to lessen while fess is to confess; to admit.

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.

As a noun fess is

(heraldiccharge) a horizontal band across the middle of the shield.

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)

    Statistics

    * English degree adverbs 1000 English basic words ----

    fess

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (confess), by shortening

    Verb

    (es)
  • To confess; to admit.
    • Derived terms
    * fess up English clippings

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Alternative forms

    * fesse

    Noun

    (es)
  • (heraldiccharge) A horizontal band across the middle of the shield.
  • * 1892 , Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor’, Norton 2005 p.294:
    • Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral—Hum! Arms: Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable.
  • * 2009 , Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall , Fourth Estate 2010, p. 420:
    • The space where the arms of Wolsey used to be is being repainted with his own newly granted arms: azure, on a fess between three lions rampant or, a rose gules, barbed vert, between two Cornish choughs proper .