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“Less” or “Loess”

less / loess are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

less l·EH·s

  • adjective(comparative of `little' usually used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree.
  • adjective(usually preceded by `no') lower in quality.
  • adjective(nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer.
  • adverbused to form the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs.
  • adverbcomparative of little.

loess l·OW·ah·s

  • nouna fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind.
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“less”

  • the flowers are fragrant, but less so than other buddlejas.
  • pictures of black males showed less implicit prejudice than those made
  • this changes when a younger, less sophisticated couple, Harry and Ramona,
  • In less than 24 hours after the
  • though having been more or less independent from the Kingdom of
  • A less common variant was fitted with
  • males with heterosocial anxiety perceived less anxiety with females after several
  • A less vociferous, but more influential stance
  • penalties for off-book accounting are less severe.
  • or says she wants – less involvement with adults.

“loess”

  • The origin of the loess deposits on the Timaru plateau.
  • for closed, isolated depressions in loess landscapes (such a forms were
  • republished by Loess Letter, Leicester University 2014.
  • He studied the loess deposits near Timaru and on
  • river valley courses through the Loess Hills on its way to
  • (), also known as Mount Loess, is a mountain in Saudi
  • from Minden on a sandy loess island near the thingstead of
  • On the Timaru loess as a climate register.
  • New Zealand http://rsnz.natlibgovt.nz; reproduced in Loess Letter supplement 23, November 1988).
  • how the origin of the loess was connected to glaciers in

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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