lest.
For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.
Meaning & usage
For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.
He won't go outside, lest he be eaten by those ravenous eagles.
I brought my notes lest faulty memory lead me astray.
that (without the negative particle; introduces the reason for an emotion.)
There was danger/alarm lest the plan become known.
I am afraid lest I revealed too much.
Where this word comes from
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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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.