rangy
Americanadjective
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(of animals or people) slender and long-limbed.
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given to or fitted for ranging or moving about, as animals.
adjective
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(of animals or people) having long slender limbs
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adapted to wandering or roaming
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allowing considerable freedom of movement; spacious; roomy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rangy
Explanation
People who are rangy are tall and thin, with long arms and legs. You could describe a skinny young basketball player as rangy. This adjective most often describes someone who's very tall and slim, or even a little gawky, like a teenager with big feet and long legs who hasn't finished growing and is awkward in their own body. More rarely, rangy means "tending, allowed, or allowing to roam," like a rangy stray dog or a wide, rangy field. It comes from the verb range, or "move freely over a wide area."
Vocabulary lists containing rangy
One of Us Is Lying
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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The Birchbark House
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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.
See Examples For:
The improvement is the product of key offseason additions such as former defensive player of the year Marcus Smart and the rangy 6-foot-7 Jake LaRavia, but even Doncic has stepped up his defensive game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
The staff cuts included well-known hosts Jeremy Sole, Jason Kramer and José Galván, whose deep and rangy tastes broke countless local and global artists to wider acclaim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2025
Hawke’s rangy crusader happens to be a magnet for that type of trouble.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
I saw him in the Championship last year, he was good - very long and rangy - but he only got 13 goals.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2025
“Do it,” said the stranger standing nearest to Harry, a big, rangy man with matted gray hair and whiskers, whose black Death Eater’s robes looked uncomfortably tight.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
It’s a funnier, rangier and in some ways more ambitious play that gives its central character attributes both magnetic and off-putting.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 27, 2023
A dwarf sport of the larger and rangier ‘Baggesen’s Gold’, ‘Twiggy’ brightens shady parts of the garden, where the foliage will be bright chartreuse.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 16, 2022
Yet, Diaz, more experienced, heavier, rangier and unfazed, kept rolling his hands before throwing.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 11, 2016
Sarkisian said his staff pursued "taller, longer and rangier" players to help the Trojans become more stout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2015
Course he's rangier 'n most huntin'-bred hosses, but with a curb to put some bow in his neck, he'll pass fur a hunter anywhere!'
From Blister Jones by Hambridge, Jay
Bol Bol is nearly half a foot shorter than his father was, but, at 7-feet-2-inches tall, he’s still one of the league’s rangiest players.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2020
At 25, Mr. Westman, a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, is not only the rangiest, but also the youngest of the Hamiltons I have seen.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2018
Lawrence Timmons, SteelersArguably the rangiest inside linebacker in the NFL, Timmons broke out with 135 tackles, 11 passes defenses, three forced fumbles, and three sacks.
From Newsweek ● Jan. 19, 2011
In fact, she describes the song as "vocally the rangiest piece we did; the text is so enigmatic and strange."
From Reuters ● Apr. 16, 2010
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.
