left

comparative further left · comparative farther left · comparative more left · comparative lefter · superlative furthest left · superlative farthest left · superlative most left · superlative leftmost · superlative leftest · alternative Left

1. Designating the side of the body toward the west when one is facing north; the side of the body on which the heart is located in most humans; the opposite of right. This arrow points to the reader's left: ←

   The left side.

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   Near-synonym: port

   Synonyms: sinister, sinistral, port · Antonyms: right, dexter, dextral

2. Anticlockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.

   The road up ahead contains a left bend.

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   Rotate the bolt to the left to loosen it.

3. geographyDesignating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's left when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the north bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥲ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the left side of the river.

   The Eiffel Tower is on the left bank of the Seine.

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   The following dispatch has been received from Viceroy Alexieff, dated Mukden, March 22: “Gen. Mitchenkow reports that on March 17 our scouts approached Anju and observed on the left bank of the Ching Chong river, opposite Anju, retrenchments made by the enemy.

   1904 March 23 [1904 March 22], Viceroy Alexieff, quotee, “Waiting for the First Collision in the Yalu Region”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 56, number 215, St. Louis, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 2

4. governmentLeft-wing; pertaining to the political left.

   Who does not know the practical man who in his own field denounces socialism as "pernicious rot" but when he steps outside his subject spouts socialism like any left journalist.

   1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 422

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   It should be noted that there is now no intelligentsia that is not in some sense "Left". Perhaps the last right-wing intellectual was T. E. Lawrence. Since about 1930 everyone describable as an “intellectual” has lived in a state of chronic discontent with the existing order.

   1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn

   Antonyms: right

5. human sciencesRelating to the beginning or earlier part of a phrase.

   left dislocation

alternative Left

1. not comparableOn the left side.

   Antonyms: right

2. not comparableTowards the left side.

   Turn left at the corner. NO! Your other left.

   Antonyms: right

3. not comparableTowards the political left.

   The East Coast of the US leans left in elections.

   Antonyms: right

plural lefts · alternative Left

1. The left side or direction.

   Synonyms: 9 o'clock, port

2. governmentThe left-wing political parties as a group; citizens holding left-wing views as a group.

   The Left left workers behind, thinking they had a winning demographic coalition. It hasn't really worked out for them yet.

   Synonyms: left wing, leftists

3. The left hand or fist.
4. boxingA punch delivered with the left fist.

   The world 'as got me snouted jist a treat; Crool Forchin's dirty left 'as smote me soul.

   1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13

5. hobbiesA wave breaking from left to right (viewed from the shore).

   Antonyms: right

1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of leave (“depart, separate from; (cause or allow to) remain”).

   There's not much food left.

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   Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   Shepard: What's wrong with your assistant? Dr. Warren: Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit... unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin. Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left! Dr. Warren: I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime

1. not comparableleftover, remaining

1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of leave (“permit”).

   We were not left go to the beach after school except on a weekend.

alternative left

1. governmentThe political left wing seen as a whole, as distinguished from an individual left-wing political party.

   Maybe it’s true that “the Left can’t meme,” if “the Left” refers to the earnest suburban revolutionary with an undercut and a nose ring who typically stalks your replies on X.

   2024 June 18, Spencer Klavan, “A Matter of Taste”, in The American Mind

   Synonyms: left wing, leftists