lessen

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: lěʹsən, IPA^(key): /ˈlɛsən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: lesson
• Rhymes: -ɛsən

Verb

lessen (third-person singular simple present lessens, present participle lessening, simple past and past participle lessened)

1. (transitive) To make less; to diminish; to reduce.
   • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, a sermon

     Charity shall lessen his punishment.

   • December 6, 1709, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preach'd before the sons of the clergy at their anniversary-meeting in the Church of St. Paul

     St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.

   • 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 44:

     The thin glass that makes mirror tiles light in weight also tends to lessen their reflective quality.

   • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian‎:

     Many hospitals have not taken simple steps to lessen the distress and confusion which dementia sufferers' often feel on being somewhere so unfamiliar – such as making signs large and easy to read, using colour schemes to help patients find their way around unfamiliar wards and not putting family mementoes such as photographs nearby.

2. (intransitive) To become less.

Translations

Conjunction

lessen

1. (nonstandard, dialect) unless.
   • 1895, Book-keeper (Detroit, Mich. : 1888). - Volume 8, Issue 6, page 10:

     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."

   • 2011, Caroline Miller, Lamb in His Bosom, page 107:

     She was fine-looking; he couldn't find a fault with her 'lessen he made it up.

   • 2011, J. California Cooper, Family:

     No more work outta them lessen they paid now.

   • 2013, Lornabelle Gethers, Honey Bea's Everlasting Gift, page 88:

     That usually all they need fuh go that straight and narrow path, lessen they got that real badness or foolishness in them.

Anagrams

• Elsens, elsens, lenses, sensel

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛsə(n)/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsən

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lesschen, from a merger of two Old Dutch verbs:

• *leskan, from Proto-West Germanic *leskan, from Proto-Germanic *leskaną; class 5 strong, intransitive.
• lesken, from Proto-West Germanic *laskijan, from Proto-Germanic *laskijaną; class 1 weak, causative of the first verb.

Verb

lessen

1. (transitive) to quench (thirst)

Inflection

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From les +‎ -en.

Verb

lessen

1. (intransitive) to take a lesson (usually a driving lesson)

Inflection

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

lessen

1. plural of les

Hungarian

Etymology

les +‎ -jen

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: les‧sen

Verb

lessen

1. third-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of les

Swedish

Adjective

lessen

1. Alternative spelling of ledsen

Further reading

• lessen in Svensk ordbok.

Anagrams

• selens