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PlainSpell

lower

/ˈloʊ.ɚ/adjective, verb, noun, adverb

lower is an adjective meaning “Bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled L-O-W-E-R and has 2 syllables, and it appears 129 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does lower mean?

adjective

  1. 1

    comparative form of low: more low (a form of low)

  2. 2

    Bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object.

  3. 3

    Situated on lower ground, nearer a coast, or more southerly.

    Lower Manhattan

  4. 4

    Older.

verb

  1. 1

    To let descend by its own weight, as something suspended; to let down.

    lower a bucket into a well

  2. 2

    To pull down.

    to lower a flag

  3. 3

    To reduce the height of.

    lower a fence or wall

  4. 4

    To depress as to direction.

    lower the aim of a gun

  5. 5

    To make less elevated.

    to lower one's ambition, aspirations, or hopes

  6. 6

    To reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of.

    lower the temperature

  7. 7

    To bring down; to humble.

    lower one's pride

  8. 8

    To humble oneself; to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity.

    I could never lower myself enough to buy second-hand clothes.

  9. 9

    Alternative spelling of lour.

noun

  1. 1

    A bicycle suspension fork component.

adverb

  1. 1

    comparative form of low: more low (a form of low)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce lower?

  • UK /ˈləʊ.ə/
  • US /ˈloʊ.ɚ/
  • Canada /ˈloʊ(ə)ɹ/

As a verb (“Alternative spelling of lour”): /ˈlaʊə/, /ˈlaʊ.ə/, /ˈlaʊɚ/.

Lower has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-lower.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-lower_(laur).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of lower

  • lowers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • lowering participle, present
  • lowered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is lower?

Lower appears 129 times per million words in written English, the 810th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Lower in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchinférieur (more towards the bottom), faire descendre, abaisser, amener (let (something) descend by its own weight, such…), baisser (pull down)
Germanunterer (more towards the bottom), herunterlassen (let (something) descend by its own weight, such…)
Portugueseinferior (more towards the bottom), abaixar, descer, baixar (let (something) descend by its own weight, such…), rebaixar (reduce the height of, as a fence or chimney)
Spanishinferior, de abajo (más) (more towards the bottom), bajar, arriar, lascar, abajar (let (something) descend by its own weight, such…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does lower come from?

From low + -er (comparative suffix).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).