Re: "no less than"


Robert Lieblich wrote:
grace wrote:

"It's no less than a fraud."
"It's a fraud."

I'd wonder if the two sentences express the same meaning, then what's the
usage of "no less than" in the first sentence. Can anybody give some similar
sentences for reference?

It's for emphasis. In my experience, "nothing less than" is the more
common version, usually used in making a negative comment. "This is
nothing less than an outrage." "His actions were nothing less than
criminal." But it can also be used in a positive sense: "This is
nothing less than a work of genius." The words add no new meaning,
only emphasis.

The implication is that what is being discussed lies far at one end of
a continuum. (You might want to look "continuum" up in a good
dicationary. Note that this notion of
"continuum" is metaphorical in nature.)

I agree it's for emphasis, but I think the implication, or at least
suggestion, is that what's being discussed may be marginally over the
threshold rather than at the end of a continuum, since it's sort of
assuming the listener might have thought that it fell short.

--
john

.

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