{
  "id": "least.comparative",
  "term": "least",
  "sense": "comparative",
  "pos": "adjective",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 8,
  "arena": "least",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "the small quantity that is less than every other quantity",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "small.size",
      "quantity.numerical"
    ],
    "interaction": "When quantities are compare and one is less than all the others",
    "novel_properties": [
      "extreme minimality",
      "superlative rank"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Voyager 1 probe, launched in 1977, uses 23 watts—less than any other deep-space transmitter still active.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "In 2023, Tuvalu had a GDP of $57 million, the least of any UN member nation.",
      "domain": "economics"
    },
    {
      "text": "The electron has the least mass of any charged particle, at 9.1 × 10⁻³¹ kg.",
      "domain": "physics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "least"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-least.comparative"
}