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I have two processes running with different speeds. In other words, one of them requires lesser time. I think 'Lesser time' is an awkward term. Is there any good alternative or synonym which I can use instead of 'lesser time'?

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  • Do you mean it requires less time to complete, in which case a simple faster will suffice?
    – MorganFR
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 11:49
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    Your sentence would be fine if you just changed "lesser" to "less".
    – TrevorD
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 11:58
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    You could use "less time," "a shorter period of time" or "faster," but not "lesser time."
    – MorganFR
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 11:58
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    Following @MorganFR comment: or "more quickly". "Faster" & "more quickly" mean the same, but there are places where one seems correct & the other sounds odd (at least in BrE).
    – TrevorD
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 12:01
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    Less is already a comparative so you don't normally need to add ..er. However lesser has an adjectival sense of its own in certain idioms e.g. a lesser offence, or a lesser charge. But if there is a grammarian in the vicinity I would be interested to hear the full explanation myself.
    – WS2
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 12:44

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In terms of programming, you can say one process is more efficient than the other because of less time complexity.

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  • Can you please explain what that means? It doesn't make sense to me in British English! How can time be more or less complex?
    – TrevorD
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 15:57
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    In simple terms, Time complexity of an algorithm signifies the total time required by the program to run to completion.In your question you have described about two different processes(which I am assuming to be computer/software process) taking different amount of time i.e. different time complexity.
    – Shashi Kumar Raja
    Commented May 20, 2016 at 16:44
  • Good approach here. 'Time complexity ' is different from the time you'd measure on a stopwatch. Run a program on a very slow computer and it will take a long time, run it on a fast computer and it will take less time, but the program is just as complex on both machines and need to do the same amount of expensive 'thinking'
    – Steve Cooper
    Commented May 21, 2016 at 6:56

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