left
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: ←
Adjective 4 meanings
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: ←
“Near-synonym: port”
Anticlockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
“The road up ahead contains a left bend.”
Designating 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.”
Left-wing; pertaining to the political left.
Adverb 3 meanings
On the left side.
Towards the left side.
“Turn left at the corner. NO! Your other left.”
Towards the political left.
“The East Coast of the US leans left in elections.”
Noun 4 meanings
The left side or direction.
The 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.”
The left hand or fist.
A punch delivered with the left fist.
Etymology
From Middle English left, luft, leoft, lift, lyft, from Old English left, lyft (“weak, clumsy, foolish”), attested in Old English lyftādl (“palsy, paralysis”), from Proto-Germanic *luft-, from *lubjaną (“to castrate, lop off”) (compare dialectal English lib, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lewp-, *(s)lup- (“hanging limply”).
Similar and opposite words
LEFT at a glance
LEFT has 4 letters and scores 7 points in Scrabble (L 1 + E 1 + F 4 + T 1) and 8 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #202 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with left
All rhymes- THEFT11
- CLEFT10
- DEFT8
- BEREFT11
- HEFT10
- WEFT10
- COPYLEFT18
- ANTITHEFT15
- REFT7
- ALEFT8
- ULTRALEFT12
- UNCLEFT12
One letter away
- LIFT7
- LENT4
- LEST4
- LOFT7
- DEFT8
- HEFT10
- WEFT10
- LEET4
- LEAT4
- LEPT6
- REFT7
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