Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

lessen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads

English

Etymology

From Middle English lessenen, lasnen, equivalent to less +‎ -en (verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

might be distinguished from lesson unlike in other accents

Verb

lessen (third-person singular simple present lessens, present participle lessening, simple past and past participle lessened)

  1. (transitive) To make less; to diminish; to reduce.
    • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, a sermon
      Charity […] shall lessen his punishment.
    • December 6, 1709, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preach'd before the sons of the clergy at their anniversary-meeting in the Church of St. Paul
      St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.
    • 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 44:
      The thin glass that makes mirror tiles light in weight also tends to lessen their reflective quality.
    • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian‎:
      Many hospitals have not taken simple steps to lessen the distress and confusion which dementia sufferers' often feel on being somewhere so unfamiliar – such as making signs large and easy to read, using colour schemes to help patients find their way around unfamiliar wards and not putting family mementoes such as photographs nearby.
  2. (intransitive) To become less.
    Synonym: abate

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Conjunction

lessen

  1. (nonstandard, dialect) unless.
    • 1895, Book-keeper (Detroit, Mich. : 1888). - Volume 8, Issue 6, page 10:
      Ober closed his encomium with the serious statement that “Lessen he could marry Miss Jennie he would be a bachelor the balance of his life," to which the drayman replied that " If Oi were Miss Janie Oi'd black yer oi the minute ye thought of such a thing. The oidee."
    • 2011, Caroline Miller, Lamb in His Bosom, page 107:
      She was fine-looking; he couldn't find a fault with her 'lessen he made it up.
    • 2011, J. California Cooper, Family:
      No more work outta them lessen they paid now.
    • 2013, Lornabelle Gethers, Honey Bea's Everlasting Gift, page 88:
      That usually all they need fuh go that straight and narrow path, lessen they got that real badness or foolishness in them.

Anagrams

Remove ads

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lesschen, from a merger of two Old Dutch [Term?] verbs:

Verb

lessen

  1. (transitive) to quench (thirst)
Conjugation
More information Conjugation of (weak), infinitive ...
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From les +‎ -en.

Verb

lessen

  1. (intransitive) to take a lesson (usually a driving lesson)
Conjugation
More information Conjugation of (weak), infinitive ...

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

lessen

  1. plural of les
Remove ads

Hungarian

Etymology

les +‎ -jen

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛʃːɛn]
  • Hyphenation: les‧sen

Verb

lessen

  1. third-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of les

Swedish

Adjective

lessen

  1. alternative spelling of ledsen

Further reading

Anagrams

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads