lest
/lɛst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.54 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
conj
For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.
Formal; Literary
Example Sentences
- "He won't go outside, lest he be eaten by those ravenous eagles."
- "I brought my notes lest faulty memory lead me astray."
- "I thought to haue told thee of it, but I fear'd / Leaſt I might anger thee."
- "And then Robert Loo came out swiftly with the half-filled jar lest more be said."
- "Stay free from petty jealousies / Live by no man's code / And hold your judgment for yourself / Lest you wind up on this road"
- "Lest any astrologer reading this result get cocky, Dr Cajochen does not believe that what he has found is directly influenced by the Moon through, say, some tidal effect. What he thinks he has discovered is an additional hand on the body’s clock-face."
Etymology
c. 1200, contracted from Middle English les te (“less that”), from Old English þȳ lǣs þe (“whereby less that”), from þȳ (instrumental case of demonstrative article þæt (“that”)) + lǣs (“less”) + þe (“that,” relative particle). The þȳ was dropped and the remaining two words contracted into leste.