From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishto say the leastto say the leastEMPHASIZEused to show that something is worse or more serious than you are actually saying His teaching methods were strange, to say the least. → leastto say the leastto say the leastEXPRESSused to say that you could have described something, criticized someone etc a lot more severely than you have Jane could have been more considerate, to say the least. → say
Examples from the Corpus
to say the least• As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least.• Cartoonish, to say the least.• There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least.• Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least.• The results of these experiments were, to say the least, puzzling to the researchers.• The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least, uncertain.• The lamps look, to say the least, unreliable.• It is a bizarre setting, to say the least, where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons. 