lesser

Plurallessers

1. 1
   adjective

   Smaller in size, value, or importance than the other of two things being compared.

   Faced with two bad options, she picked the lesser harm.

   The treaty was signed by the king and several lesser nobles.

   Similarminor, smaller, lower, inferior, secondary

   Oppositegreater

   Note

   Naturalists use it to build names: the lesser panda and the lesser yellowlegs are each named against a greater counterpart. Greater is its natural partner, in species names and everyday phrases alike. Because lesser is already a comparative, it takes no further degree. Nobody says "more lesser" or "most lesser," and it usually weighs just two things against each other.

2. 2
   adjective

   Comparative form of little.

   Of the two debts, she paid off the lesser one first.

   The judge gave him a lesser sentence because he confessed.

   Note

   A comparative built on a comparative: less already means "more little," and lesser adds -er on top of it. The doubled marking has hardened into a word of its own. Littler remains the plain comparative of size, while lesser is the usual choice for weight and importance: the lesser debt, the lesser quantity.

3. 3
   noun

   The one of smaller size, value, or importance among the things being compared.

   Between the two proposals, the board approved the lesser as a safer bet.

   She never settled for the lesser when excellence was within reach.

   Note

   Here the adjective drops its noun and stands alone, and it takes a regular plural: lessers. The pattern grows straight out of the pairing with greater in the comparing adjective. Once "greater" and "lesser" sand hills are established, a writer can say that almost all lessers migrate without naming the hills again.

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