Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (2)
1.
of less size or importance;
- Example: "the lesser anteater"- Example: "the lesser of two evils"2.
smaller in size or amount or value;
- Example: "the lesser powers of Europe"- Example: "the lesser anteater"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Lesser \Less"er\, adv.
Less. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Lesser \Less"er\ (l[e^]s"[~e]r), a. [This word is formed by
adding anew the compar. suffix -er (in which r is from an
original s) to less. See Less, a.]
Less; smaller; inferior.
[1913 Webster]
God made . . . the lesser light to rule the night.
--Gen. i. 15.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Lesser is used for less, now the compar. of little, in
certain special instances in which its employment has
become established by custom; as, Lesser Asia (i. e.,
Asia Minor), the lesser light, and some others; also in
poetry, for the sake of the meter, and in prose where
its use renders the passage more euphonious.
[1913 Webster]
The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The larger here, and there the lesser lambs.
--Pope.
[1913 Webster]
By the same reason may a man, in the state of
nature, punish the lesser breaches of the law.
--Locke.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
lesser
adj 1: of less size or importance; "the lesser anteater"; "the
lesser of two evils" [ant: greater]
2: smaller in size or amount or value; "the lesser powers of
Europe"; "the lesser anteater"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
64 Moby Thesaurus words for "lesser":
abated, ablated, attenuated, bated, belittled, common, consumed,
contracted, curtailed, decreased, deflated, demeaning, diminished,
dinky, disadvantaged, dissipated, dropped, eroded, fallen, humble,
in the shade, inferior, infra dig, insignificant, junior, less,
low, lower, lowered, lowly, miniaturized, minor, modest, nether,
ordinary, reduced, retrenched, scaled-down, second rank,
second string, secondary, servile, shorn, shorter, shrunk,
shrunken, small, small-fry, small-time, smaller, sub, subaltern,
subjacent, subject, subordinate, subservient, third rank,
third string, under, underprivileged, vulgar, watered-down,
weakened, worn