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# lesser

«lesser» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **smaller in amount or size: the lesser of two numbers** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (lesser)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Lesser means smaller in amount or size: the lesser of two numbers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#m1)

2) Lesser means less important or not as good: a lesser prize. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#m2)

3) «The lesser of two evils» is the less bad of two bad choices. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#m3)

4) In names of animals and plants, lesser means the smaller kind: the lesser spotted woodpecker. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

Interpretation: Tradition notes that the moon was made smaller than the sun, and teaches in a story that it complained and was made to shrink. Ezekiel also uses lesser for the smaller ledge of the altar in his vision of the future Temple. In the primary lessons: In maths it is a comparison: the smaller of two numbers; «subtract the lesser number from the greater» gives the difference. In everyday life it means less important or less bad. In science some animal names use it for a smaller species.

### examples

- And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. (Torah GEN.1.16, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x1)
- And from the bottom upon the ground to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit. (Prophets EZK.43.14, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x2)
- Which is the lesser number, 34 or 43? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x3)
- Subtract the lesser number from the greater. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x4)
- The lesser amount is 12. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x5)
- Choose the lesser of the two prices. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x6)
- Staying home was the lesser of two evils. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x7)
- He won a lesser prize at the science fair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x8)
- The lesser panda is also called the red panda. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x9)
- To a lesser degree, the cold also hurt the crops. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x10)
- There were two festivals of this name, the Lesser and the Greater Panathenaea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/#x11)

### note

«Lesser» goes before a noun (the lesser number); it is not used like «less than». Do not write «lesser than»; say «less than» or «smaller than». Maths: it points to the smaller amount; with «greater» it usually means a difference. Trap: lesser is not «less than by», which gives a number to subtract.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «lesser» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/L/lesser/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.