Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lissome
First recorded in 1790–1800; variant of lithesome ( def. )
Explanation
Lissome describes people or things that are slender, flexible, light, and graceful. If you watch long, thin blades of grass swishing in the breeze, they look like lissome dancers with swaying arms and torsos. Some examples of lissome bodies are those of mermaids twisting through the water, small snakes squiggling into sand piles, and men and women who bound up stairs as if they're light as air. A straw is thin and bendy, and you can use it to lift some liquid from a glass. Lissome sounds a little like "lift some," and it's an adjective for thin and flexible people, like a lissome ballerina with a gracefully arched back. Light, lean, liquid in movement — lissome.
Vocabulary lists containing lissome
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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.
Watch a few old episodes of “Cheers,” and you’ll see shades of Rob Petrie’s lissome movement in Danson’s smooth-talking Sam Malone.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2025
“Please go stream the album,” the lanky, severely-cheekboned Boose asked to a packed crowd of lissome, 20-something influencers and besuited industry types.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
Her shimmering, fluent physicality, displayed over the years in videos and performances, is equally fearless and lissome.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
Jaeggy’s books are slim and lissome, usually topping out around 100 pages, and have a monastic degree of focus.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2024
There were some who looked like human women, but had skin the color of moss and lips like bark; they moved with a lissome grace, treading circles in their cages.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
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.
