lower

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verb (1)

low·er ˈlau̇(-ə)r

ˈlō-ər

variants or less commonly lour

ˈlau̇(-ə)r

lowered also loured; lowering also louring; lowers also lours

intransitive verb

: to look sullen : frown

: to be or become dark, gloomy, and threatening

an overcast sky lowered over the village

lower

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noun

variants or less commonly lour

: frown

lower

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adjective

low·er ˈlō-ər

: relatively low in position, rank, or order

: southern

lower New York State

: less advanced in the scale of evolutionary development

: situated or held to be situated beneath the earth's surface

capitalized : being an earlier epoch or series of the period or system named

Lower Cretaceous

Lower Paleolithic

: constituting the popular and often the larger and more representative branch of a bicameral legislative body

lower house

lower

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verb (2)

low·er ˈlō-ər

lowered; lowering; lowers

intransitive verb

: to move down : drop

also : diminish

transitive verb

: to let descend : let down

: to depress as to direction

lower your aim

: to reduce the height of

: to reduce in value, number, or amount

b(1)

: to bring down in quality or character : degrade

(2)

: abase, humble

: to reduce the objective of

Phrases

lower the boom

: to deal a crushing blow or punishment

Example Sentences

Noun he turned to see the scornful lower on her face Adjective the ship's upper and lower decks The message appeared on the lower portion of the screen. the mountain's upper and lower slopes The forecast is for strong winds at lower elevations. in the lower and higher latitudes the lower and upper peninsulas See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

That’s down from a record 10.6% jump the previous month, and is lower than economists had expected.

Julia Horowitz, CNN, 30 Nov. 2022 Patients taking the drug had a 3.6-fold lower risk of relapse overall, compared to placebo.

Allison Deangelis, STAT, 28 Nov. 2022 This Thanksgiving has displayed a much lower COVID-19 risk than in the previous two years.

San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Nov. 2022 While the drugs from Pfizer and Merck have been cleared for use for high-risk patients in the U.S., Shionogi’s trials showed improvements among lower-risk patients, the company said.

Megumi Fujikawa, WSJ, 22 Nov. 2022 Those in the Paxlovid group had a lower risk of 10 out of 12 long COVID symptoms.

Tanya Lewis, Scientific American, 22 Nov. 2022 Women who vacation at least twice a year have a lower heart attack risk than those who do so rarely.

Zee Krstic, Good Housekeeping, 22 Nov. 2022 Cardio exercise is still king as those who reported regular cardio exercise had a 32% lower risk.

Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 17 Nov. 2022 Most experts choose one of the DOACs over warfarin because they have been proven to have lower risk of both stroke and major bleeding, compared with warfarin.

Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 17 Nov. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lower.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.