gracile
Americanadjective
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gracefully slender.
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slender; thin.
adjective
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gracefully thin or slender
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a less common word for graceful
Other Word Forms
- gracileness noun
- gracility noun
Etymology
Origin of gracile
First recorded in 1615–25, gracile is from the Latin word gracilis slender, slight, thin
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.
Judging from its unique adaptations, this was a particularly gracile and innovative predator that possessed clawed digits primed for pouncing onto the backs of larger animals.
From New York Times
Bamforth also noted that the hand was "relatively slender and gracile" and may have mimicked the arm and hand of a small adult or adolescent.
From Fox News
This "big toe" is not only more gracile in chimpanzees, but it curves toward the other toes enabling a greater flexing motion.
From Scientific American
One gracile young warrior, who some researchers had previously speculated might be female, turned out to be male.
From Science Magazine
I say that this lizard is “strikingly proportioned” because it’s shockingly suited for arboreal, trunk-clinging life, being highly gracile – almost spidery – and with a very slim tail, slender digits and hooked claws.
From Scientific American
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.
