none the less

adverb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see none, the, less.

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Meanings

adverbnone the less (not comparable)
  1. alternativenot comparableAlternative form of nonetheless.

    I none the less hold that [John Maynard Keynes'] insights were several orders more profound and realistic than those of his recent critics.

    1982, Frank Hahn, Monetary and Inflation, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, page xi
    1 more example

    For beauty and picturesqueness and sheer thrill these discoveries remain unmatched by those of any subsequent year. None the less, no one, not even Mr. Evans himself, ever expected that so much was to follow.

    1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 4
  2. not comparableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see none, the, less.

    One likes him none the less—rather, one likes him the more; since its faults are due to his very virtues.

    1903, William Macdonald, “[Notes to “Critical Essays”] Recollections of a Late Royal Academician (“Englishman’s Magazine,” September 1831)”, in Charles Lamb, Critical Essays, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co.; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co., page 319
    2 more examples

    These tales are written in an English dialect—none the less a dialect for that it lacks uniformity in the misplacement of aspirates, and lacks, too, strange words misunderstanded of the reader.

    1896 March, E[dith] Nesbit, In Homespun, London: John Lane, […]; Boston, Mass.: Roberts Bros., page v

    His favorite toys were pencils and brushes, for he early learned to paint. But he was none the less a boy for being an artist, and so Edwin and his brothers had fun together, as a picture he painted in these play-days suggests.

    1909 April, Louise Fanshawe Gregory, ““The Little Dog-Boy””, in St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks, volume XXXVI, number 6, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co.; London: Frederick Warne & Co., page 497
Cite this entry
APA

none the less. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/none%20the%20less

MLA

“none the less.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/none%20the%20less. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “none the less,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/none%20the%20less.

Source: none the less on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.