Meaning & use
left
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Located on or turned toward the side of your body that faces west when you face north, opposite to the right.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: your left hand, the left lane.
Patterns
- on the left side of something
- your left hand
She writes with her left hand even though everyone else in her family is right-handed.
Take the left fork in the road and keep going until you see the bridge.
His left shoe had come untied halfway through the race.
adverbnot comparable
Toward or on the side that is opposite the right.
Grammar: Follows a verb of movement: turn left, look left.
Patterns
- turn left
- look left
Turn left at the traffic lights and the pharmacy is on your right.
The ball curved left just before it reached the goalkeeper.
Look left, then right, before you cross the street.
nounsingular
The left-hand side or direction, or the position on that side.
Grammar: Used with the: on the left, to the left.
Patterns
- on the left
- to the left of something
The exit is on the left, just past the elevators.
Sit to the left of the speaker so you can see the screen.
Keep to the left when you drive in the UK.
nounsingular
Political groups and ideas that favor social equality, public services and economic reform, as opposed to the right.
Grammar: Takes the and is often written with a capital L in politics: the Left.
Patterns
- the left of the party
- on the left
The party has moved toward the left since the last election.
Many on the left argued for higher taxes on the wealthy.
She has always voted for candidates of the centre left.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Past tense and past participle of leave: went away from a place, or let something remain behind.
Grammar: Past form only: she left early, he left his keys.
Patterns
- left something behind
- left for somewhere
We left the party just before midnight.
He left his umbrella on the train again.
Only two slices of pizza were left when I got there.
Word forms
| comparative | more left |
|---|
Common combinations
- left hand
- He held the map in his left hand and the torch in his right.
- turn left
- Turn left after the post office.
- far left
- The far left of the stage was in shadow.
- left wing
- The left wing of the party opposed the proposal.
- left over
- There was plenty of soup left over after dinner.
- to the left
- Move the picture slightly to the left.
Synonyms and how they differ
- port
- Port means the left side of a ship or aircraft when facing forward, so it is used only in sailing and flying, never for hands or roads.
- left-hand
- Left-hand describes position relative to something, as in the left-hand drawer, and is used only before a noun, whereas left can also stand alone as an adverb.
- sinistral
- Sinistral is a technical term used in science and zoology for left-handed or left-sided, and sounds odd in everyday speech.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: left or lift? left or right?
left vs lift
Lift is a different word; learners sometimes mishear it. Left is a direction or the past of leave, while lift means raise.
left vs right
Right is the opposite direction, but it also means correct, so check the context when someone says right.
Practice
I could not find my phone anywhere, then I realized I had ______ it on the bus.
Choose one answer.
Left is the past participle of leave and fits after had. Leave is the base form, lift is a different verb, and lefted is not a real word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “left”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.