left

UK/ˈlɛft/US/ˈɫɛft/

left adjective: designating the side of the body toward the west when one is facing north; the side of the body on which the heart is located in most humans; the opposite of right. This arrow points to the reader's left: ←. Also the simple past and past participle of leave.

Adjective (1)

left (comparative further left or farther left or more left or lefter, superlative furthest left or farthest left or most left or leftmost or leftest)

Designating the side of the body toward the west when one is facing north; the side of the body on which the heart is located in most humans; the opposite of right. This arrow points to the reader's left: ←
- Near-synonym: port
- The left side.
Synonyms:

sinister, sinistral, port

Antonyms:

right, dexter, dextral
Anticlockwise, particularly when describing a change in direction or orientation.
- The road up ahead contains a left bend.
- Rotate the bolt to the left to loosen it.
Designating the bank of a river (etc.) on one's left when facing downstream (i.e. facing forward while floating with the current); that is, the north bank of a river that flows eastward. If this arrow: ⥲ shows the direction of the current, the tilde is on the left side of the river.
- The Eiffel Tower is on the left bank of the Seine.
- The following dispatch has been received from Viceroy Alexieff, dated Mukden, March 22:
  “Gen. Mitchenkow reports that on March 17 our scouts approached Anju and observed on the left bank of the Ching Chong river, opposite Anju, retrenchments made by the enemy.1904 March 23 [1904 March 22], Viceroy Alexieff, quotee, “Waiting for the First Collision in the Yalu Region”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 56, number 215, St. Louis, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2...
Left-wing; pertaining to the political left.
- It should be noted that there is now no intelligentsia that is not in some sense "Left". Perhaps the last right-wing intellectual was T. E. Lawrence. Since about 1930 everyone describable as an “intellectual” has lived in a state of chronic discontent with the existing order.1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn
- Who does not know the practical man who in his own field denounces socialism as "pernicious rot" but when he steps outside his subject spouts socialism like any left journalist.1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 422
Antonyms:

right
Relating to the beginning or earlier part of a phrase.
- left dislocation

Adverb

left (not comparable)

On the left side.

Antonyms:

right
Towards the left side.
- Turn left at the corner. NO! Your other left.
Antonyms:

right
Towards the political left.
- The East Coast of the US leans left in elections.
Antonyms:

right

Noun

left (plural lefts)

The left side or direction.

Synonyms:

9 o'clock, port
The left-wing political parties as a group; citizens holding left-wing views as a group.
- The Left left workers behind, thinking they had a winning demographic coalition. It hasn't really worked out for them yet.
Synonyms:

left wing, leftists
The left hand or fist.
A punch delivered with the left fist.
- The world 'as got me snouted jist a treat; Crool Forchin's dirty left 'as smote me soul.1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13
A wave breaking from left to right (viewed from the shore).

Antonyms:

right

Adjective (2)

left (not comparable)

leftover, remaining

Proper noun capitalized: Left

the Left

The political left wing seen as a whole, as distinguished from an individual left-wing political party.
- Maybe it’s true that “the Left can’t meme,” if “the Left” refers to the earnest suburban revolutionary with an undercut and a nose ring who typically stalks your replies on X.2024 June 18, Spencer Klavan, “A Matter of Taste”, in The American Mind
Synonyms:

left wing, leftists

Also used as

left is also the simple past and past participle of leave.

left meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

left in Hindi

west side of the body when one is facing north: बायाँ bāyā̃, बाएँ bāẽ
pertaining to the political left — see also leftist: वामपंथ vāmpanth
on the left side: बायाँ bāyā̃, बाएँ bāẽ
towards the left side: बायें bāyẽ, बाएँ bāẽ

left in Tamil

west side of the body when one is facing north: இடது iṭatu

left in Marathi

डावीकडे

left in Urdu

west side of the body when one is facing north: بایاں bāyā̃

More languagesFewer languages

left in Bengali: বাঁ bã, বাঁপাশে bãpaśe, বাঁ দিকে bã dike
left in Telugu: ఎడమ eḍama, మిగిలిన migilina
left in Malayalam: ഇടത് iṭatŭ
left in Kannada: ಎಡಕ್ಕೆ, ಎಡ
left in Punjabi: ਖੱਬੇ
left in Gujarati: ડાબે
left in Odia: ବାମ bāma
left in Sanskrit: सव्य savya, वाम vāma
left in Assamese: বাওঁ baü̃, বাওঁফালে baü̃phale, বাওঁফাল baü̃phal, বাকী baki
left in Nepali: बायाँ, बाँया, बायाँतिर
left in Pashto: يسار yasãr
left in Tagalog: kaliwa, tira
left in Arabic: يَسَار yasār, شِمَال šimāl, شمال šimāl, يسار yasār
left in Malay: kiri
left in Indonesian: kiri, sayap kiri
left in Persian: چپ čap, اشکلک eškelak, در سمت چپ dar semet čap, چپگرا čapgerâ
left in Thai: ซ้าย sáai
left in Vietnamese: trái, ở bên trái
left in Myanmar: ဘယ် bhai, ဝဲ wai:

Examples of left in a sentence

I managed to murmur some words of consolation as I left the funeral.
We still have a couple hours left to do in the yard.
Since he left her, she's suing him for divorce on grounds of abandonment.

All 40 example sentences with left

Synonyms of left

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of left

Forms of left

Adjective
comparative	further left
comparative	farther left
comparative	more left
comparative	lefter
superlative	furthest left
superlative	farthest left
superlative	most left
superlative	leftmost
superlative	leftest
alternative form	Left
Noun
plural	lefts
Proper noun
alternative form	left

Origin of left

From Middle English left, luft, leoft, lift, lyft, from Old English left, lyft (“weak, clumsy, foolish”), attested in Old English lyftādl (“palsy, paralysis”), from Proto-Germanic *luft-, from *lubjaną (“to castrate, lop off”) (compare dialectal English lib, West Frisian lobje, Dutch lubben), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lewp-, *(s)lup- (“hanging limply”). Compare Scots left (“left”), North Frisian lefts, leeft, leefts (“left”), West Frisian lofts (“left”), obsolete Dutch lucht, leftsch, lefts, lefs (“left”), dialectal Dutch loof (“weak, worthless”), archaic Low German lucht (“left”).

From Middle English left, variant of laft (“remaining, left”), from Old English lǣfed, ġelǣfed, past participle of lǣfan (“to leave”). More at leave.

From Middle English levit, ilevet, y-levyd, from Old English ġelȳfd, ġelȳfed, past participle of Old English ġelȳfan, lȳfan (“to allow, permit”), equivalent to leave (“to give leave to, allow, grant, permit”) + -ed.

Phrases with left

151 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with left

Questions about left

What does left mean?: Left means designating the side of the body toward the west when one is facing north; the side of the body on which the heart is located in most humans; the opposite of right. This arrow points to the reader's left: ←.
What is left in Hindi?: Left in Hindi is बायाँ (bāyā̃), बाएँ (bāẽ), वामपंथ (vāmpanth). See Left meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is left?: Left can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce left?: Left is pronounced /ˈlɛft/ (UK).

Words near left in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: left (page history and authors); Left (page history and authors); left (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); left (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); left (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); left (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); left (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “left.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/left. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.