less

   lacking a quality in a way which is the subject of a taboo

   Thus less academic children are stupid or unteachable; a less attractive person is ugly or repulsive in other ways (it will not be long before we learn, for example, that Cinderella had two less attractive sisters); less edited is pornographic; less enjoyable is boring, of books, plays, and art; less gifted is of inferior ability or intelligence; less or lesser developed is poor and backward, of a country; less prepared is of inferior attainment; etc.:

    She said the move showed 'the dramatic increase in the acceptance of a wide range of adult programming. This kind of less-edited programming is here to stay'. [Daily Telegraph, 4 July 2001, reporting on pornographic television programmes)

    ... loans to lesser developed countries such as Zaire and Jamaica. (M. Thomas, 1960)

    ... the selection of the best qualified black applicants... in preference to less gifted or less prepared blacks. (Pei, 1969)