+271.+ The change in form of adjectives in the positive, comparative and
superlative shows that one object has more of a quality than others with
which it is compared. But we also wish at times to express the fact that
one object has less of the quality than is possessed by others with
which it is compared; so we have what we may call the descending
comparison, by means of phrases formed by using _less_ and _least_
instead of _more_ and _most_. Using _less_ with the positive degree
means a degree less than the positive, while using _least_ expresses the
lowest degree. For example: