Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [lest]
- /lɛst/
- /lest/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [lest]
- /lɛst/
Definitions of lest word
- noun lest With the intention of preventing (something undesirable); to avoid the risk of. 1
- noun lest for fear that 1
- noun lest in case 1
- conjunction lest If you do something lest something unpleasant should happen, you do it to try to prevent the unpleasant thing from happening. 0
- conjunction lest so as to prevent any possibility that 0
- conjunction lest for fear that; in case 0
Information block about the term
Origin of lest
First appearance:
before 1000 One of the 6% oldest English words
before 1000; Middle English leste, contraction of the lesse the, thi les the; late Old English the lǣste, earlier thȳ lǣs the, literally, whereby less that (thȳ instrumental case of the demonstrative and relative pronoun, lǣs less, the relative particle)
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Lest
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
lest popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 90% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.
lest usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for lest
Top questions with lest
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