: to say nothing of : not to mention
—used especially to emphasize the improbability of a contrasting example
… he would never walk again, let alone play golf.—
Sports Illus.
how many ever see an Ambassador or Minister, let alone a President—Robert Lacville
let alone
2 of 2phrase
: to leave undisturbed
let the flowers alone
also
: to leave to oneself
wanted to be let alone
Examples of let alone in a Sentence
Conjunction
I don't have enough money for a new car, let alone a luxury sedan.
Recent Examples on the Web
Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
The other defeats in the sequence have come away to Liverpool, away to Arsenal and at home to Villa — none of which are games they should be expected to draw, let alone win.
—Andy Naylor, New York Times, 28 Jan. 2026
It's estimated that California lost more than $20 billion to pandemic unemployment fraud when EDD issued billions in fraudulent payments to criminals while out-of-work Californians struggled to get an EDD rep on the phone, let alone get paid.
—Julie Watts, CBS News, 27 Jan. 2026
Habermas’s near-total indifference to European colonialism—let alone Israel’s violent expansionism and the darker history of capitalism—has long made his philosophy look historically naïve.
—Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for let alone
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Conjunction
Whether that man could ever be found, let alone brought to justice, remained to be seen.
—Cite this Entry
“Let alone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/let%20alone. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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