least  (lēst)  adj. A superlative of little.
To or in the lowest or smallest degree. n. One that is the lowest or smallest in importance, rank, magnitude, or degree: The dinner menu is the least of my worries tonight. The least you can do is to be polite. [Middle English, from Old English lǣst; see leis-2 in Indo-European roots.] |
in the least
Also, in the slightest. At all, in the smallest degree. These terms are nearly always used in a negative context. For example, I don't care in the least what you do with the money, or It doesn't matter in the slightest whether or not you attend. [c. 1600] They may also be put as not in the least or not in the slightest, as in I am not in the least worried about the outcome, or The heat doesn't bother me in the slightest. In the least dates from about 1600; in the slightest has been used in the sense of "emphatically unimportant or trifling" since the late 1500s.