# least

Pronunciation: say "LEEST" US /list/, UK /liːst/

## Determiner

1. 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').
   - Simple: The smallest amount or number of something.
   - _Of all the bidders, that firm offered the least for the property._
   - _Which of the three suppliers charges the least for the same parts?_

## Adverb

2. 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').
   - Simple: Less than all others or less than at any other time, as in 'the least expensive'.
   - _Critics called it the least convincing of the three proposals._
   - _Of all the rooms, the back office is least suitable for meetings._

## Prepositional phrase

3. An informal clipping of "at least", with the "at" dropped, usually standing at the start of a remark ('Least he tried'). *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: A casual, shortened way of saying "at least."
   - _Least he called to warn us before the meeting was canceled._
   - _The trip was a disaster, but least nobody got hurt._

## Adjective

4. Superlative of little in the archaic sense smallest in size (the least sparrow). Smallest in amount or degree is the ordinary current use. *(archaic)* — superlative form of little: most little; littlest.
   - Simple: Superlative of little. An old-fashioned use meaning smallest in size, as in "the least sparrow."
   - _He cared for the least creature on the farm as much as the greatest._
   - _Not the least crumb was left upon the table._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The smallest amount or part that can exist, one that cannot be divided any further.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4** — Proto-Germanic *laisistaz ("smallest; least") lies behind Old English lǣst, itself contracted from læsast/læsest/lærest ("least"), which became Middle English leste (also lest, last). Old English læs ("less") is a relative, and Old Frisian leist and Old Saxon lēs are among its cognates.
**Meaning 3** — A contraction of "at least."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/least (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).