thin

American  

[thin] / θɪn /

adjective

• thinner,
  comparative
• thinnest
  superlative

1. having relatively little extent from one surface or side to the opposite; not thick.

   thin ice.

2. of small cross section in comparison with the length; slender.

   a thin wire.

3. having little flesh; spare; lean.

   a thin man.

   Synonyms:

   scrawny, lank, skinny, slender, slim

4. composed of or containing objects, particles, etc., widely separated; sparse.

   thin vegetation.

5. scant; not abundant or plentiful.

   Synonyms:

   meager

6. of relatively slight consistency or viscosity.

   thin soup.

7. rarefied, as air.

8. without solidity or substance; flimsy.

   a very thin plot for such a long book.

   Synonyms:

   weak

9. lacking fullness or volume; weak and shrill.

   a thin voice.

10. without force or a sincere effort.

    a thin smile.

11. lacking body, richness, or strength.

    a thin wine.

12. lacking in chroma; of light tint.

13. Photography. (of a developed negative) lacking in density or contrast through underdevelopment or underexposure.

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adverb

1. in a thin manner.

2. sparsely; not densely.

3. so as to produce something thin.

   Slice the ham thin.

verb (used with object)

• thins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• thinned,
  past participle,  past
• thinning
  present participle

1. to make thin or thinner (often followed by down, out, etc.).

verb (used without object)

• thins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• thinned,
  past participle,  past
• thinning
  present participle

1. to become thin or thinner; become reduced or diminished (often followed by down, out, off, etc.).

   The crowd is thinning out.

thin British  

/ θɪn /

adjective

1. of relatively small extent from one side or surface to the other; fine or narrow

2. slim or lean

3. sparsely placed; meagre

   thin hair

4. of relatively low density or viscosity

   a thin liquid

5. weak; poor; insufficient

   a thin disguise

6. (of a photographic negative) having low density, usually insufficient to produce a satisfactory positive

7. mountaineering a climb or pitch on which the holds are few and small

8. few in number; scarce

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adverb

1. in order to produce something thin

   to cut bread thin

verb

1. to make or become thin or sparse

thin Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing thin

• into thin air
• on thin ice
• spread oneself too thin
• through thick and thin
• wear thin

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Synonym Usage

Thin, gaunt, lean, spare agree in referring to one having little flesh. Thin applies often to one in an unnaturally reduced state, as from sickness, overwork, lack of food, or the like: a thin, dirty little waif. Gaunt suggests the angularity of bones prominently displayed in a thin face and body: to look ill and gaunt. Lean usually applies to a person or animal that is naturally thin: looking lean but healthy after an outdoor vacation. Spare implies a muscular leanness with no diminution of vitality: Lincoln was spare in body.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overthinness
  noun
• thinness
  noun
• overthin
  adjective
• self-thinning
  adjective
• superthin
  adjective
• unthinned
  adjective
• unthinning
  adjective
• overthinly
  adverb
• thinly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• thinner
  comparative
• thinnest
  superlative

Participles

• thinning
  present
• thinned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• thin
  simple
• thins
  simple
• have thinned
  perfect
• has thinned
  perfect
• am thinning
  progressive
• are thinning
  progressive
• is thinning
  progressive
• have been thinning
  perfect progressive
• has been thinning
  perfect progressive

Past

• thinned
  simple
• had thinned
  perfect
• was thinning
  progressive
• were thinning
  progressive
• had been thinning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will thin
  simple
• will have thinned
  perfect
• will be thinning
  progressive
• will have been thinning
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of thin

First recorded before 900; (adjective and adverb) Middle English thyn(ne), Old English thynne; cognate with Dutch dun, German dünn, Old Norse thunnr; (verb) Middle English thynnen, Old English thynnian, derivative of the adjective; compare Middle Dutch dunnen, Old Norse thynna; akin to Old Irish tana, Latin tenuis thin, Greek tany- long

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Explanation

Something thin is narrow or not very thick. If you wear thin socks on a cold winter day, your toes might start to feel numb. Thin can describe something that is narrow and slender, like a hair or a thread. It can also describe a layer of something that is not very thick, such as paper. To thin something out is to make it lesser or weaker, like thinning out a sauce by adding water. You can also use this word figuratively. An argument that is not very convincing is thin.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thin thinner thinnest thins thinned thinning

Close to 1 in 4 homeowners is “house rich” and stretched thin everywhere else, and that usually includes retirement accounts.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

"The margins are so thin that you can't make a lot of mistakes," a logging manager said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026

This millennial was also a fan: I personally fell for the zesty Linguica sausages and the Picanha steak, which is sliced thin and seasoned with rock salt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

The engineers developed an extremely thin swimming robot that uses living muscle tissue to move its fins.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

High in the sky, thin white clouds were stacking up like petals.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Much of Venezuela’s raw crude is so thick that it won’t flow through pipelines unless it is first blended with 20% or more of oil thinner products.

From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026

Raman explains that thinner designs could reduce manufacturing costs while potentially improving movement efficiency.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

United's defensive resources are stretched thinner as Leny Yoro is ruled out through suspension.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

To put that scale into perspective, 90 nanometers is roughly 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

Her black shirt was a much thinner material than her pants and barely had any sleeves.

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley

“I couldn’t eat. I was the thinnest I’d ever been. I was just so anxious every day, not having answers to these questions,” Bayouth said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

But I also looked in at myself as a mother through the leaded-glass pane of our very lovely living-room windows, and I saw a washed-out woman worn down to the thinnest thread.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

Value is concentrated exactly where capacity is thinnest.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026

A 120,000-year-old deer skeleton, also discovered in Germany, shows a spear wound where the pelvic bone was thinnest, suggesting that the hunter knew exactly where to aim.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

His hair was dark and his eyes were dark and he wore black leather gloves of the thinnest lambskin.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

Special deals helped boost attendance in Florida and California while traffic thins out at competitors Universal and SeaWorld.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Buying equity stakes rather than owning depreciating fleets softens that, but the line between “demand layer” and “co-investor in hardware” thins with each deal.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

Along the outer edges, red hues trace the coldest material, where gas thins and dust begins to take shape.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 26, 2026

As a devastating outbreak of bird flu thins chicken populations and market forces drive grocery prices up, the breakfast and baking staple has become pricier and harder to find.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025

The green stuff thins down to just kind of washy.

From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor

Although the melting did not quite match the record losses of 2022, glaciers thinned by an average of 2.5 to 4 meters.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

But it’s especially bad for big agricultural states, where margins were already thinned due to tariffs and fertilizer prices.

From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2026

To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

"Practices will need to be incentivised back into NHS work in the places where the NHS footprint has thinned most."

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

The beard was the same as well, though the face under that thicket of white hair had thinned considerably, and there were deep lines graven in those ruddy cheeks.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

“So we support the thinning of the queues and getting the better, realistic decisions to make sure we can all move forward.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

But scientists say long-term glacier thinning and the thawing of frozen ground likely raised the risks.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

At this stage, high energy radiation from the young star can penetrate the thinning material and heat gas in the disk until it escapes.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026

The chart below shows the thinning gap between annualized inflation rates and APYs.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

He was a short stocky man with thick hands, a short red neck and thinning hair.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

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Related Words

• delicate
• fragile
• gaunt
• lean
• meager
• narrow
• skinny
• slim
• small

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