LEAST

Meaning

Something of the smallest possible extent; an indivisible unit.

• adverbUsed for forming superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding -est.

LEAST as a word-puzzle answer

LEAST is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (E, A) and 3 consonants (L, S, T). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (E, A, S, T), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.