Definition of "lesser" []

• Smaller in amount, value, or importance, especially in a comparison between two things: chose the lesser evil. (adjective)
• Of a smaller size than other, similar forms: the lesser anteater. (adjective)
• Less. Used before a participle: a lesser-known writer. (adverb)
• One that is lower in importance, rank, magnitude, or degree: the lesser of two evils. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term lesser epic includes the numerous forms of narrative poems from the old-time ballad to the modern story-telling poem."
• "The evil is in letting our feelings deny other people their rightful place as human beings inhabiting the same planet, experiencing the universal prospect that one day in the not too distant future, what we call lesser creatures will inhabit the earth, and there will be no more any such thing as one human being harboring racial hatred for another."
• "Aides to Rumsfeld insist that this kind of a deployment falls under what he calls a lesser contingency that the U.S. is prepared to take care of even while it's involved in major operation like what's going on in Iraq."