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• lean
  lean

  verb (used without object)

  to incline or bend from a vertical position.
• Lean
  Lean

  noun

  David, 1908–91, British film director.

lean

¹ American  

[leen] / lin /

verb (used without object)

• leans,
  present (3rd person singular)
• leaned,
  past participle,  past
• leant,
  past participle,  past (especially British)
• leaning
  present participle

1. to incline or bend from a vertical position.

   She leaned out the window.

2. to incline, as in a particular direction; slant.

   The post leans to the left.

   The building leaned sharply before renovation.

3. to incline in feeling, opinion, action, etc..

   to lean toward socialism.

4. to rest against or on something for support.

   to lean against a wall.

5. to depend or rely (usually followed by on orupon ).

   someone he could lean on in an emergency.

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verb (used with object)

• leans,
  present (3rd person singular)
• leaned,
  past participle,  past
• leant,
  past participle,  past (especially British)
• leaning
  present participle

1. to incline or bend.

   He leaned his head forward.

2. to cause to lean or rest; prop.

   to lean a chair against the railing.

noun

1. the act or state of leaning; inclination.

   The tower has a pronounced lean.

verb phrase

1. lean on

   1. to exert influence or pressure on in order to gain cooperation, maintain discipline, or the like.

      The state is leaning on the company to clean up its industrial wastes.

   2. to criticize, reprimand, or punish.

      I would have enjoyed school more if the teachers hadn't leaned on me so much.

2. lean in

   1. to shift one's body weight forward or toward someone or something.

      Because Don was whispering, I had to lean in so I could hear him.

      He stood near home plate and leaned in for the pitch.

   2. to embrace risk, be assertive, etc., as to achieve the greatest level of success in the workplace.

      She really knows how to lean in—she'll have a corner office before long.

idioms

1. lean over backward(s). bend.

lean ² American  

[leen] / lin /

adjective

• leaner,
  comparative
• leanest
  superlative

1. (of persons or animals) without much flesh or fat; not plump or fat; thin.

   lean cattle.

   Synonyms:

   lanky, lank, skinny

   Antonyms:

   fat

2. (of edible meat) containing little or no fat.

   Antonyms:

   fat

3. lacking in richness, fullness, quantity, etc.; poor.

   a lean diet; lean years.

   Synonyms:

   jejune, unfruitful, barren, sparse

   Antonyms:

   fruitful

4. spare; economical.

   a lean prose style.

5. Automotive. (of a mixture in a fuel system) having a relatively low ratio of fuel to air (contrasted with rich).

6. (of paint) having more pigment than oil.

7. Nautical. (of a bow) having fine lines; sharp.

8. Metallurgy. (of ore) having a low mineral content; low-grade.

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noun

1. the part of flesh that consists of muscle rather than fat.

2. the lean part of anything.

3. Typesetting. matter that is difficult to set because of complexity or intermixed fonts.

Lean ³ American  

[leen] / lin /

noun

1. David, 1908–91, British film director.

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lean ¹ British  

/ liːn /

adjective

1. (esp of a person or an animal) having no surplus flesh or bulk; not fat or plump

2. not bulky or full

3. (of meat) having little or no fat

4. not rich, abundant, or satisfying

5. (of a mixture of fuel and air) containing insufficient fuel and too much air

   a lean mixture

6. (of printer's type) having a thin appearance

7. (of a paint) containing relatively little oil

8. (of an ore) not having a high mineral content

9. (of concrete) made with a small amount of cement

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noun

1. the part of meat that contains little or no fat

lean ² British  

/ liːn /

verb

1. to rest or cause to rest against a support

2. to incline or cause to incline from a vertical position

3. (intr; foll by to or towards) to have or express a tendency or leaning

4. informal to make a special effort, esp in order to please

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noun

1. the condition of inclining from a vertical position

Lean ³ British  

/ liːn /

noun

1. Sir David. 1908–91, English film director. His films include In Which We Serve (1942), Blithe Spirit (1945), Brief Encounter (1946), Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984)

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Usage

What else does lean mean? Content warning: this article contains references to drug abuse. In slang, lean is a term for prescription-strength cough syrup mixed with soft drinks and candy. It’s also known by such other names as purple drank or sizzurp.

Synonym Usage

See thin.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• leanness
  noun
• leanly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• leaner
  comparative
• leanest
  superlative

Participles

• leaning
  present
• leaned
  past
• leant
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lean
  simple
• leans
  simple
• have leaned
  perfect
• have leant
  perfect
• has leaned
  perfect
• has leant
  perfect
• am leaning
  progressive
• are leaning
  progressive
• is leaning
  progressive
• have been leaning
  perfect progressive
• has been leaning
  perfect progressive

Past

• leaned
  simple
• leant
  simple
• had leaned
  perfect
• had leant
  perfect
• was leaning
  progressive
• were leaning
  progressive
• had been leaning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lean
  simple
• will have leaned
  perfect
• will have leant
  perfect
• will be leaning
  progressive
• will have been leaning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of lean¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English lenen, Old English hleonian, hlinian; cognate with German lehnen; akin to Greek klī́nein, Latin -clīnāre “to incline ”

Origin of lean²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English lene, lein(e), Old English hlǣne

Explanation

If you lean on something, you incline your body against it, like the way you lean against a wall while waiting in line. If you lean on a person, you rely on her for moral support, like the way you lean on your best friend when you're feeling sad or worried. If you’re tired, lean back in your chair. If you’re broke, lean on your family for financial help. But something can lean all by itself, if it’s not standing straight. The famous Tower of Pisa leans at an angle of about 4 degrees. As an adjective, we use lean to describe something skimpy or lacking excess flesh. When you're experiencing financial difficulty, you could say you're going through lean (not prosperous) times.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lean Lean leaner leanest leans leaned leant leaning

Obese mice treated with the compound lost fat while showing no significant reduction in lean muscle mass.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

Management expressed confidence that could it lean on planned investments to cut prices over this year to gain market share.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

I tend to lean towards more documentaries than anything else.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

That is low by historical standards; in lean years the majority, or even the entirety, of the sector's profits have been accounted for by subsidy.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

When I lean over the bed railing to give Tūtū a hug, I press my ear to her chest.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Lean and wet and smeared with grass, he introduces himself as Lincoln Hedberg from New Jersey.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026

Or Sheryl Sandberg, whose Lean In Foundation now hawks AI to women; in March, Sandberg joined the board of directors of Nscale, a British data-center startup.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

Lean mass or muscle made up 14.6% of total weight loss in the apitegromab group, compared with 30.2% in the placebo group that received a dummy treatment alongside Mounjaro.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

David Lean and Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson … a lot of the films they were in or directed really helped shape who I am today.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

“Well, I can’t do more than say I am sorry, even if I have. I don’t know what we were fighting about anyway. Lean on my shoulder and we will get you into bed.”

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

But in the latter half of the 20th century, new research about the dangers of cholesterol and fat in beef began to shift consumer tides toward leaner proteins.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

Northern sled dogs became compact and heavily coated for cold conditions, while hunting dogs near the equator tended to be leaner and better suited to heat.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026

Boeing is getting leaner — and in the process, Archer Aviation’s stock is getting a big boost.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

Rather than explain how a leaner fish or one packed in oil might change the cake, the recipe simply expands to encompass nearly anything.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

The taller, leaner cop looms over me, and I duck my head in a pose of mock humility.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

A commonly eaten meat in Australia, kangaroo is the world’s leanest protein and the equivalent of venison in America.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

The CEO concentrated the business, exiting less productive properties and dumping an in-house service arm, and set out a mission to make Pioneer the leanest, profitable and most desirable catch among U.S. shale independents.

From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2023

It's not a lie - I was never the leanest cricketer in the world, but I won games for franchises.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2023

Schrader takes a page from the great journalism movies — most notably “All the President’s Men” and, more recently, “Spotlight” — by paring down the narrative to its leanest, most unfussy elements.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 16, 2022

Study after study shows that the leanest curriculums are being offered in the highest-poverty areas, despite ample evidence that this is exactly the wrong thing to do.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

“The Whisper Man” leans heavily on the twists and turns of its propulsive and menacing plot, which occasionally creaks like stairs to that creepy basement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

This version leans hard into fresh corn, still in its cool green husks and already smelling sweet before you cut it from the cob.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Blanche leans on Williams’ concession that she cannot void the private contract.

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

Another tactic Bielsa leans on is the use of wide pairings or trios to break teams down.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Every so often, he leans against Isaac, who is already taller than him, to catch his breath.

From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar

The queen of country music herself never got involved in politics, rising above the fact that the scene has frequently leaned conservative.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

“And it’s why we have leaned so heavily into lower prices.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

Walmart has leaned heavily on price cuts to retain customers, launching 11,000 of its so-called "rollbacks" across categories.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The crowd, which leaned younger in part because the event allowed attendees 18 and older, trickled in around 7 p.m., and by 9 p.m., the party was in full swing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Mr. Haber leaned forward and pulled a drawer open and began to rifle through it.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Researchers said the work also leant further credence to a theory about humpback whale patterns known as the "Southern Ocean Exchange".

From Barron's ● May 20, 2026

Like the rest of Europe, Germany leant on the United States for its security for decades.

From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026

The family also claims the new authorities have leant on the courts to find them guilty.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025

It leant the audience a discerning sense of agency, as we could control the show but only to a point.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2025

The crew of the ship leant against the side throwing scraps to the gulls, while visitors in pleasure-boats rowed slowly round the ship.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

But in this case, the desperation of the situation might just call for public health advocates leaning into the dangerous new technology.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

Pamplona’s Alto del Perdón—the Hill of Forgiveness—where metal pilgrim figures stand against the sky, leaning permanently into the wind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Is that something you’ve talked about before with each other, leaning into a rock sound?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Catering to Hollywood royalty and leaning into its “Showtime” charm, the Lakers became synonymous with the star-studded city.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Chip was leaning so far forward now that Jonah was afraid he might fall out of his chair.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• angular
• gangly
• gaunt
• lanky
• rangy
• sinewy
• skinny
• slender
• slim
• sparse
• svelte
• wiry