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• slim
  slim

  adjective

  slender, as in girth or form; slight in build or structure.
• Slim
  Slim

  noun

  the E African name for AIDS

slim

American  

[slim] / slɪm /

adjective

• slimmer,
  comparative
• slimmest
  superlative

1. slender, as in girth or form; slight in build or structure.

   Synonyms:

   thin

   Antonyms:

   fat

2. poor or inferior.

   a slim chance; a slim excuse.

3. small or inconsiderable; meager; scanty.

   a slim income.

   Synonyms:

   paltry, trivial, trifling, insignificant

   Antonyms:

   abundant, considerable

4. sized for the thinner than average person.

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verb (used with object)

slimmed, slimming

1. to make slim.

verb (used without object)

slimmed, slimming

1. to become slim.

2. Chiefly British. to try to become more slender, especially by dieting.

noun

1. a garment size meant for a thin person.

verb phrase

1. slim down

   1. to lose weight, especially intentionally.

   2. (of a business) to reduce operating expenses; economize.

slim ¹ British  

/ slɪm /

adjective

1. small in width relative to height or length

2. small in amount or quality

   slim chances of success

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verb

1. to make or become slim, esp by diets and exercise

2. to reduce or decrease or cause to be reduced or decreased

Slim ² British  

/ slɪm /

noun

1. the E African name for AIDS

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Slim ³ British  

/ slɪm /

noun

1. William Joseph , 1st Viscount. 1891–1970, British field marshal, who commanded (1943–45) the 14th Army in the reconquest of Burma (now called Myanmar) from the Japanese; governor general of Australia (1953–60)

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Synonym Usage

See slender.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• slimmer
  noun
• slimness
  noun
• unslimness
  noun
• unslim
  adjective
• unslimmed
  adjective
• slimly
  adverb
• unslimly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• slimmer
  comparative
• slimmest
  superlative

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Etymology

Origin of slim

1650–60; < Dutch slim sly, (earlier) crooked (cognate with German schlimm bad, (earlier) crooked)

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Explanation

Anything slim is thin or narrow. So, your sister may be considered slim, and you could also have "a slim chance" of winning the lottery. Slim people are slender, and slim things are usually delicate, like a slim watch band. You can also use slim to describe a margin or a chance: "There was only a slim likelihood that the home team would win this game." Back in the early 1800s, to slim meant "to do one's work carelessly," and in the seventeenth century, the adjective was also used to mean "sly or crafty."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

slim Slim slimmer slimmest slimmed slimming

The Reds' hopes of forcing their way back into the semi-final after a 3-0 loss to Barcelona at the Nou Camp looked slim, especially with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino unavailable because of injury.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

Republicans currently have a slim 219-214 majority in the House, along with a 53-47 majority in the Senate.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

When the margins are this slim, the stakes stay sky-high all autumn long.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

Despite a request from litigants to overturn prior rulings in Kisor, a slim majority of the court ruled that judges were still required to defer to an agency’s interpretations of its regulations.

From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2026

A figure—pale and slim, with a cloud of frosted hair.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

Instead, he let Slim Shady learn a hard lesson that true southerners know: You lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

The project took Silicon Valley by storm in the early 2010s, as young entrepreneur Holmes drew investors -- including Henry Kissinger, Carlos Slim and Rupert Murdoch -- to her project.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

The tasting was one of dozens of tests the maker of Slim Jims and Hungry-Man dinners is conducting with an eye toward the conundrum presented by GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Nara and Lucky Blue Smith, 28, married in 2020 and share four children: Whimsy Lou, eldest daughter Rumble Honey, son Slim Easy, and infant Fawnie Golden.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

Slim looked approvingly at George for having given the compliment.

From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

While Bass led among Black likely voters in the September poll, the already wide margin was much slimmer at that time, at 48% to 20%.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

Just inside the door, there was a flimsy mannequin with the face of a much younger, slimmer Trump, wearing a red “Trump 2028” hat, a dark suit, and a signature red tie.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

Responding to the watchdog, Jaded London argued it was "not clear" the model was holding a cigarette because it was slimmer than normal and "did not appear to be lit".

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Suffering from slimmer margins on electric cars, US tariffs and above all intense Chinese competition, German carmakers have sought to cut overheads.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

One of them is a little taller and slimmer than the other, but they definitely look alike.

From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi

Keiko Fujimori won the June 7 presidential runoff by the slimmest of margins, outpolling leftist Roberto Sanchez by fewer than 50,000 votes out of the more than 18 million ballots cast, the final results showed.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

To evoke the fractured psyche of the characters, Morrison’s narratives are highly disjointed, switching among different points of view and time periods with only the slimmest semantic clues offered for orientation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Playing in the Open Division requires extreme focus on taking it one game at a time and never looking ahead because every game can be won or lost by the slimmest of margins.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2026

But when it came to science, Narlikar believed in exploring the slimmest of possibilities.

From BBC ● May 23, 2025

There was a chance, she thought, just the slimmest chance that an offering burned on this altar might appear at Camp Half-Blood.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Since setting out a new strategy in 2024, Simoes has slimmed the company to three core divisions from four businesses previously, and has sold off non-strategic businesses such as Cala Homes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

First introduced in 1988, the Omega Speedmaster Reduced took the Speedmaster Professional — which comes in a sizable 42mm case sizing — and slimmed it down to a chill 39mm.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

The divestment from True comes after the Nordic telecom slimmed down its presence in Asia, selling its Telenor Pakistan business in December.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026

A dedicated pace coach for the senior side could be another tweak to a backroom staff previously slimmed down by McCullum.

From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026

She’d slimmed down and shot up and started worrying about clothes.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Traditionally, he says, men "almost need a bit of a scare" to start trying to shed the pounds, seeing it as something private and shunning the more social approach some women prefer, like slimming clubs.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

Continental, which has been struggling amid a crisis in the wider European auto sector, has been slimming down its operations to focus on its traditional tyre business.

From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026

It is thought to be the result of rapid slimming, rather than the medication itself.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Brides aren’t the only ones slimming down before their big day, Ianieri-Salerno said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

The column of light in front of us is closing, slimming into a pinpoint.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

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