Meaning of lest in English

Table of contents

Adverb
lest
Definitions
1. for fear that
Examples
- « she tiptoed lest her mother should hear her »
2. that (after verbs explicitly expressing fear etc.)
Examples
- « he worried lest he should be late »

Famous quotes

« As though there were a tie And obligation to posterity. We get them, bear them, breed, and nurse: What has posterity done for us. That we, lest they their rights should lose, Should trust our necks to gripe of noose? »
John Trumbull
« Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. »
Carl Sandburg
« Truth is a good dog but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out. »
Francis Bacon
« So far as hypotheses are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he entered it. »
Nicolaus Copernicus
« Some men love truth so much that they seem to be in continual fear lest she should catch a cold on overexposure. »
Samuel Butler