Lessen

//ˈlɛsən// conj, verb

conj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make less; to diminish; to reduce. transitive

    "a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, a sermon Charity […] shall lessen his punishment."

  2. 2
    decrease in size, extent, or range wordnet
  3. 3
    To become less. intransitive
  4. 4
    wear off or die down wordnet
  5. 5
    make become smaller wordnet
Conjunction
  1. 1
    unless. dialectal, nonstandard

    "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.""

Synonyms

All synonyms
decreaseabridgediminishdwindlelowerreduce

Example

More examples

"Even your faults do not lessen my respect for you, and in friendship this is what counts."

Etymology

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.