lank
Americanadjective
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(of plants) unduly long and slender.
lank grass; lank, leafless trees.
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(of hair) straight and limp; without spring or curl.
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lean; gaunt; thin.
adjective
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long and limp
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thin or gaunt
adjective
Other Word Forms
- lankly adverb
- lankness noun
Etymology
Origin of lank
before 1000; Middle English lanc, Old English hlanc; akin to Old High German hlanca loin, side. Cf. flank
Explanation
Lank can describe grass that is long, hair that is limp, and people who are tall and thin. From the Old English hlanc (which is fun to say out loud), meaning loose and empty, lank is an adjective used to describe plant life which is long and slender, hair that hangs long and limp, and people who are long and slim. So you might hire a lank basketball player with lank hair to cut the grass when it’s lank. Or you might cut it yourself.
Vocabulary lists containing lank
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
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Let's Go Caroling, List 1
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
His clean-cropped hair has grown out lank and shaggy.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2025
Her hair is lank, unwashed, and she hides herself in oversized clothes.
From Salon • Oct. 17, 2022
As toxic algal blooms in the Klamath basin's main lank threaten the also-endangered suckerfish a month earlier than "normal," water is in short supply and dead juvenile chinook salmon are found every day.
From Fox News • Jul. 14, 2021
On the field, the Patriots trailed with 2:05 to go, when here came that lank, cool-hand Brady, driving them 77 yards in an astonishing 77 seconds, with four javelin passes to Rob Gronkowski.
From Washington Post • Dec. 18, 2017
Malcolm brought the canoe up onto the lank and sodden grass under a yew tree, tied the painter urgently to the nearest branch, and hastened to fix the hoops into their brackets.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
