let alone
"let-alone" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“let alone” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a conjunction. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Much less; to say nothing of; used after one negative clause to introduce another, usually broader and more important clause, whose negation is implied by the negation of the first. However either ...
Corpus desk
Index EN-let-alone · let alone · English
let alone · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | let alone |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Conjunction |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “let alone” in English
Rare enough to double-check
let alone is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aconjunction. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for let alone, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is let alone, spelled L-E-T- -A-L-O-N-E.
Definition
- 1Much less; to say nothing of; used after one negative clause to introduce another, usually broader and more important clause, whose negation is implied by the negation of the first. However either of these instances mentioned can be applied with the use of let alone.
- 2Not to mention, as well as; used after one item, to introduce a further item which is entailed by the first.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how let alone appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He couldn't boil water, let alone prepare a dinner for eight.
My last run this month is an amazing performance of an "A2/3" Pacific, No. 60524, Herringbone (could there possibly be a more infelicitous name for a locomotive than this, let alone for the unhappy horse which first had to bear it?), […].
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.