let alone

English

Conjunction

let alone

1. (idiomatic, negative polarity item) Much less; to say nothing of; used after one negative clause to introduce another, usually broader and more important clause, whose negation is implied by the negation of the first.

   He couldn't boil water, let alone prepare a dinner for eight.

2. (idiomatic, positive polarity item, rare) not to mention, as well as; used after one item, to introduce a further item which is entailed by the first.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used with the order of items reversed.

Translations

to say nothing of

• Arabic: ناهيك (ar) (nāhīk(a))
• Bulgarian: камо ли (bg) (kámo li)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 更不用說 (cmn), 更不用说 (cmn) (gèng bùyòng shuō), 何況 (cmn), 何况 (cmn) (hékuàng)

• Czech: natož (cs)
• Danish: endnu mindre, endsige, end mindre
• Dutch: laat staan (nl)
• Finnish: puhumattakaan (fi), saati (fi)
• French: encore moins (fr), et encore moins (fr)
• German: geschweige denn (de), geschweige (de)
• Greek: πόσο μάλλον (el) (póso mállon)
• Italian: nonché (it)
• Japanese: どころか (ja) (dokoroka), もちろん (ja) (mochiron)

• Korean: 커녕 (ko) (keonyeong)
• Macedonian: камоли (mk) (kámoli)
• Persian: چه برسه (fa)
• Polish: co dopiero (pl)
• Portuguese: muito menos (pt), imagina então (pt)
• Russian: не говоря уже (о) (ru) (ne govorjá užé o), (а) тем более (ru) ((a) tem bóleje)
• Scottish Gaelic: gun luaidh (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: још мање (sh), камоли (sh), а камоли (sh)

  Roman: još manje (sh), kamoli (sh), a kamoli (sh)

• Spanish: ni menos (es), ni qué hablar de (es), por no hablar de (es)
• Turkish: (colloquial) bırak (tr)

as well as

• Portuguese: ainda mais (pt)

See also

• a fortiori

References

• Charles J. Fillmore, Paul Kay, Catherine O'Connor (September 1988) "Regularity and idiomaticity in grammatical constructions: The case of let alone" Language (Vol.64 No.3) pp.501-538
• Mark Liberman (24 February 2011) "Much less/Or even" Language Log
• E. Ward Gilman (editor) Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage p.596, Merriam–Webster, 1994 ISBN 9780877791324.

Verb

let alone (third-person singular simple present lets alone, present participle letting alone, simple past and past participle let alone)

1. (transitive) To leave alone, let be; to stop bothering.

   I wish he would let me alone so I could get some sleep.

Translations

leave alone — see leave alone