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Twice vs Less - What's the difference?

twice | less |

As adverbs the difference between twice and less

is that twice is two times while less is to smaller extent.

As an adjective less is

comparative of little; smaller.

As a preposition less is

minus; not including.

As a verb less is

to make less; to lessen.

As a conjunction less is

unless.

twice

English

Adverb

(-)
  • Two times.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}
  • * 1934 , (Santa Claus Is Coming to Town)
    • Santa Claus is coming to town. / He’s making a list, / And checking it twice , / He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. / Santa Claus is coming to town.
  • (nonstandard, proscribed)
  • * {{quote-book, year=1826, author=John Nicholson, publisher=H.C. Carey & I. Lea
    • , title=The Operative Mechanic, and British Machinist: Being a Practical Display of the Manufactories and Mechanical Arts of the United Kingdom, volume=1 , pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=TJUAAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22twice%20as%20slow%22&pg=PA78
  • v=onepage&q=%22twice%20as%20slow%22&f=false
    • , page=78}}
    Thus it appears that if the machine is turning twice as slow as before, there is more than twice the former quantity in the rising buckets; and more will be raised in a minute by the same expenditure of power.
  • * {{quote-book, title=Domesticated Trout: How to Breed and Grow Them, year=1896, edition=fourth
    • , page=304, author=Livingston Stone , pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=IPg-AAAAYAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Livingston%20Stone%22&pg=PA304
  • v=onepage&q=%22thin%20as%20a%20shad%22&f=false}}
    • You can't get anything thinner than a spring shad, unless you take a couple of them, when, of course, they will be twice as thin.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2010, title=Roman Polanski: A Life in Exile, first=Julia, last=Ain-krupa, publisher=ABC-CLIO, page=31
    • , pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=2Oeo0DmdphwC&lpg=PA31&dq=%22twice%20as%20dumb%22&pg=PA31
  • v=onepage&q=%22twice%20as%20dumb%22&f=false}}
    • Standing in the lower portion of the boat, he apologizes while Krystyna paces above him, saying that he's just like Andrzej, “only half his age and twice as dumb.”
  • In a doubled quantity or extent.
  • To a doubled degree.

    • Derived terms

    * a broken clock is right twice a day * two-time * twice as small * twice as less

    See also

    * once * thrice English frequency adverbs 1000 English basic words

    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 ----