adjective
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having unusually long legs
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(of a woman) having long and shapely legs
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(of a plant) having an unusually long and weak stem
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(esp of a sportsperson) sluggish or fatigued; having tired legs
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of leggy
Explanation
When a person is described as leggy, it means they have very long legs. If your little sister is extremely tall and leggy for her age, you might suggest that she try out for the school basketball team. When a lovely woman is described as leggy, it's usually in an admiring way: "I felt like New York was full of leggy models that weekend." If you describe a plant as leggy, it's more likely to be critical, meaning something closer to "scrawny" or "spindly." When the daisies in your garden get too leggy, you'll have to stake them or even prune them so they can grow back fuller and healthier.
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.
But these same strange, delicate, leggy arthropods also haunt our nightmares.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
A clumsily set-up “Broadway Baby” from “Follies,” in which Peters cheekily name-checks herself, eventually was redeemed when she was joined by other veteran troupers in leggy kick-line.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2025
Conservationists at the zoo said there are less than 600 surviving wild onagers, but the birth "of the leggy youngster" could help safeguard the species from extinction.
From BBC • Aug. 2, 2024
Yeah, Winslow is a guy who writes hard-boiled crime fiction full of leggy, tough-talking dolls and guys with $70,000 watches and short, telegraphic sentences.
From Salon • Apr. 6, 2024
Seeing him paw the ground and whinny only served to emphasize how leggy and coltish he had become.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
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.
