Word.ws English Dictionary

less-than-stellar

Syllables: less-than-stel·lar/ˈlɛs ðən ˈstɛ.lə/US/ˈlɛs ðən ˈstɛl.ɚ/

less-than-stellar adjective: mediocre; not satisfactory; not very good, poor; not meeting standards or expectations.

Adjective

less-than-stellar (comparative form only)

  1. (comparative-only, sarcastic, slang) Mediocre; not satisfactory; not very good, poor; not meeting standards or expectations.
    • Some years ago there were hundreds of musicians of ability, but of less stellar renown, who toured the country, giving performances at less than stellar fees.1931, Music and Dance, volume 21, Melbourne, Vic.: Australian Musical News Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 27, column 2
    • Yet the economic seers are at it again, seemingly unabashed by their somewhat less than stellar performances in 1969.1970, Hardware Age, volume 205, New York, N.Y.: David Williams Co., →OCLC, page 8, column 1

Examples of less-than-stellar in a sentence

  • The Jacksons' less-than-stellar sales led to less-than-stellar bookings, then the less-than-stellar bookings led to no bookings.2014, Ron Weisner, Alan Goldsher, “The Jacksons”, in Listen Out Loud: A Life in Music—Managing McCartney, Madonna, and Michael Jackson...
  • In effect, risk-based pricing creates a penalty for those in the mortgage market with less wealth and less-than-stellar credit.2015, Dan Immergluck, “The Housing Finance Debate”, in Preventing the Next Mortgage Crisis: The Meltdown, the Federal Response, and the...
  • I also quoted administrators at Jared [Kushner]'s high school, who described him as a less-than-stellar student and expressed dismay at Harvard's decision.2016 November 18, Daniel Golden, “How did ‘less than stellar’ high school student Jared Kushner get into Harvard?: Donald Trump’s...

Forms of less-than-stellar

alternative formless than stellar

Questions about less-than-stellar

What does less-than-stellar mean?
Less-than-stellar means mediocre; not satisfactory; not very good, poor; not meeting standards or expectations.
How do you use less-than-stellar in a sentence?
The Jacksons' less-than-stellar sales led to less-than-stellar bookings, then the less-than-stellar bookings led to no bookings.
What part of speech is less-than-stellar?
Less-than-stellar is an adjective.
How do you pronounce less-than-stellar?
Less-than-stellar is pronounced /ˈlɛs ðən ˈstɛ.lə/ (UK).

Words near less-than-stellar in the dictionary

  1. less than truckload
  2. less thans
  3. less'n
  4. less-known
  5. less-lethal
  6. less-than-stellar
  7. Lessard
  8. Lessards
  9. lesse
  10. lessed
  11. lessee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: less-than-stellar (page history and authors). 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.

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