Litter vs Less - What's the difference?
litter | less |
(countable) A platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol.
* Shakespeare
(countable) The offspring of a mammal born in one birth.
* D. Estrange
(uncountable) Material used as bedding for animals.
(uncountable) Collectively, items discarded on the ground.
* Jonathan Swift
(uncountable) Absorbent material used in an animal's litter tray
(uncountable) Layer of fallen leaves and similar organic matter in a forest floor.
A covering of straw for plants.
* Evelyn
To drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles).
* By tossing the bottle out the window, he was littering .
To strew with scattered articles.
* Jonathan Swift
To give birth to, used of animals.
* Sir Thomas Browne
* Shakespeare
To produce a litter of young.
* Macaulay
To supply (cattle etc.) with litter; to cover with litter, as the floor of a stall.
* Bishop Hacke
* Dryden
To be supplied with litter as bedding; to sleep or make one's bed in litter.
* Habington
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 litter and less
is that litter is to drop or throw trash without properly disposing of it (as discarding in public areas rather than trash receptacles) while less is (obsolete) to make less; to lessen.As a noun litter
is (countable) a platform mounted on two shafts, or a more elaborate construction, designed to be carried by two (or more) people to transport one (in luxury models sometimes more) third person(s) or (occasionally in the elaborate version) a cargo, such as a religious idol.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.litter
English
Noun
(wikipedia litter)- There is a litter ready; lay him in 't.
- A wolf came to a sow, and very kindly offered to take care of her litter .
- Strephon / Stole in, and took a strict survey / Of all the litter as it lay.
- Take off the litter from your kernel beds.
Synonyms
* (platform designed to carry a person or a load): palanquin, sedan chair, stretcher, cacolet * (items discarded on the ground): waste, rubbish, garbage (US), trash (US), junkDerived terms
* cat litter * litter bin * litter bug, litterbug * litter frogVerb
(en verb)- the room with volumes littered round
- We might conceive that dogs were created blind, because we observe they were littered so with us.
- The son that she did litter here, / A freckled whelp hagborn.
- A desert where the she-wolf still littered .
- Tell them how they litter their jades.
- For his ease, well littered was the floor.
- The inn where he and his horse littered .
Derived terms
* littererAnagrams
* ---- ==Jèrriais==Derived terms
*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)
