rangy
Americanadjective
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(of animals or people) slender and long-limbed.
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given to or fitted for ranging or moving about, as animals.
adjective
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(of animals or people) having long slender limbs
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adapted to wandering or roaming
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allowing considerable freedom of movement; spacious; roomy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rangy
Explanation
People who are rangy are tall and thin, with long arms and legs. You could describe a skinny young basketball player as rangy. This adjective most often describes someone who's very tall and slim, or even a little gawky, like a teenager with big feet and long legs who hasn't finished growing and is awkward in their own body. More rarely, rangy means "tending, allowed, or allowing to roam," like a rangy stray dog or a wide, rangy field. It comes from the verb range, or "move freely over a wide area."
Vocabulary lists containing rangy
One of Us Is Lying
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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The Birchbark House
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rangy in tone, style and theme, it has so much going on that a single viewing hardly seems sufficient to absorb it all.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
Breakdown: Rangy and dynamic athlete who tends to show up in places that offenses don’t anticipate.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2022
Rangy and silver haired, the 6-ft-4 aspiring producer was often seen in a casual attire of jeans and gym shoes.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2020
Rangy and unassuming, with a Bluetooth device embedded in one ear, Feffer makes his entrance from the side of the theater space in Mount Vernon United Methodist Church.
From Washington Post
Rangy, powerful man, white hair over his temples, still, hard face, eyes like knives.
From The Lone Star Ranger, a romance of the border by Grey, Zane
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
