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gangling

[ gang-gling ]
/ ˈgæŋ glɪŋ /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gangling ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

awkwardly tall and spindly; lank and loosely built.

RELATED WORDS

awkward, bony, gawky, lanky, lumbering, skinny, spindly, tall, thin, leggy, long-legged

Nearby words

  1. gangliated,
  2. gangliated nerve,
  3. gangliectomy,
  4. gangliform,
  5. gangliitis,
  6. ganglioblast,
  7. gangliocyte,
  8. gangliocytoma,
  9. ganglioglioma,
  10. gangliolysis
Also gangly.

Origin of gangling

1800–10; akin to obsolete gangrel gangling person; cf. gang1

Definition for gangling (2 of 2)

gangle

[ gang-guh l ]
/ ˈgæŋ gəl /

verb (used without object), gan·gled, gan·gling.

to move awkwardly or ungracefully: A tall, stiff-jointed man gangled past.

Origin of gangle

First recorded in 1965–70; back formation from gangling
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gangling

British Dictionary definitions for gangling

gangling

gangly (ˈɡæŋɡlɪ)

/ (ˈɡæŋɡlɪŋ) /

adjective

tall, lanky, and awkward in movement

Word Origin for gangling

perhaps related to gangrel; see gang ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gangling

gangling

adj.

by 1812, a frequentative of gang in some sense involving looseness.

GANGLING. Tall, slender, delicate, generally applied to plants. Warw. [James O. Halliwell, "A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words," 1846]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper