gangly
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of gangly
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75
Explanation
Someone who's tall, long-limbed, and awkward is gangly. Many teenagers go through a gangly phase before they reach their full height and weight. Gangly people are gawky and skinny, and you could also describe an adolescent colt or puppy with long, ungraceful legs as gangly. The adjective gangly is American, its invention often attributed to Mark Twain, who used it in his 1872 book Roughing It, as a variation on the British word with the same meaning, gangling.
Vocabulary lists containing gangly
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, Part Four
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The Sea of Monsters
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Born a Crime
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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.
And in 2018, another "creepypasta" about gangly, besuited monster "Slender Man" was turned into a feature film that raked in $50 million worldwide.
From Barron's • May 28, 2026
“I want to devote my entire life to military service,” the gangly teen told The Wall Street Journal last spring as he prepared to take his oath of service at a base in east Ukraine.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
As a gangly freshman, Davidson stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, eight rebounds, four steals, three assists and one block per game on her way to being named Oregon’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 14, 2025
But bassist Garry Tallent never smiled that much, and Springsteen’s onstage foil, the Big Man, Clarence Clemons, was never awkward or gangly the way he is portrayed here; the man was elegance personified.
From Salon • Oct. 28, 2025
His arms and legs seemed extra gangly and he loped around like he didn’t know what to do with the extra inches he had grown.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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.
