lest

Pronunciation: /lɛst/

The English word “lest” has 2 meanings listed here.

conjunction

For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.
that (without the negative particle; introduces the reason for an emotion.)

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.

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More English words

lessoning
lessonless
lessons learned
lessor
lest we forget
lestaurtinib
Lester
lestid

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.