least

1. 1
   minimum amountdeterminer

   The smallest amount possible or the minimum, used before an uncountable noun or on its own with 'the' ('the least money'; 'the least I can do').

   Of all the bidders, that firm offered the least for the property.

   Which of the three suppliers charges the least for the same parts?

   UsageUsually with the: the least money, the least work. For things you count, the fewest is the usual choice: the fewest mistakes.

   Note

   The bottom of the scale of amount comes from Old English lǣst, a contraction of læsast, which was built on læs, "less". That old pairing survives today, because less is still its comparative. The least can also shrink a small thing to almost nothing. Joseph C. Lincoln writes of "the least mite of a slam" (1913), where it means "even the slightest" rather than measuring a quantity. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Least derives from Old English lǣst, a contraction of læsast. en.wiktionary.org
   • The historical formation uses the base meaning “less”. en.wiktionary.org
   • Joseph C. Lincoln wrote the quoted wording in Mr. Pratt’s Patients; it occurs in Solomon Pratt’s narration. upload.wikimedia.org
   • The work containing the quotation was first published in 1913. openlibrary.org
2. 2
   lowest degreeadverbnegative

   To the smallest degree; less than any other, often before an adjective or adverb to form its superlative ('the least expensive'; 'when you least expect it').

   Critics called it the least convincing of the three proposals.

   Of all the rooms, the back office is least suitable for meetings.

   UsageGoes before an adjective, which stays plain: the least expensive. With a verb: when you least expect it, the one I liked least.

   Oppositemost

3. 3
   at any rateprepositional phrasenonstandard

   An informal clipping of "at least", with the "at" dropped, usually standing at the start of a remark ('Least he tried').

   Least he called to warn us before the meeting was canceled.

   The trip was a disaster, but least nobody got hurt.

   UsageUsually opens the clause: Least nobody got hurt. In careful writing, use at least.

   Note

   This is a clipping of at least that drops the preposition, so it belongs to speech and to dialogue written to sound like speech. Mark Twain gives a boy the line "Least I reckon so" (1876), and the same form still turns up in casual writing in 2019.

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