rangy

[reyn-jee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rangy ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, rang·i·er, rang·i·est.

(of animals or people) slender and long-limbed.

given to or fitted for ranging or moving about, as animals.

mountainous.

Origin of rangy

First recorded in 1865–70; range + -y¹

Related formsrang·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rangy

gangly, lanky, skinny, spindly, leggy, gangling, thin, spindling, weedy, long-legged, reedy

Examples from the Web for rangy

Contemporary Examples of rangy

A 30-yard free kick resulted and the rangy Brazilian, his hair a beehive of curls, cannoned the ball into the Colombian net.
Brazil and Colombia Bring the Ugly Game
Tunku Varadarajan
July 4, 2014
When we were in high school, Bruno was this rangy farm boy and I was certainly not going to have anything to do with that!
Amy Dickinson Goes Home Again
Sara Nelson
February 17, 2009

Historical Examples of rangy

Then he turned to a lean rider who bestrode a tall, rangy horse.
'Drag' Harlan
Charles Alden Seltzer
Smuts is essentially an out-of-doors person and his body is wiry and rangy.
An African Adventure
Isaac F. Marcosson
In all there were fourteen of these cats—swift and rangy performers, all of them.
The Abandoned Farmers
Irvin S. Cobb
A man was coming down from the north, lickety-split on a roan with a rangy stride.
Curly
Roger Pocock
That fat part was something of a joke, for she would always be lean and rangy.
The Right Time
Walter Bupp

British Dictionary definitions for rangy

rangy

adjective rangier or rangiest

(of animals or people) having long slender limbs

adapted to wandering or roaming

allowing considerable freedom of movement; spacious; roomy

Derived Formsrangily, adverbranginess, noun

Word Origin for rangy

C19: from range + -y 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rangy

adj.

"having a long, slender form" (as an animal suited to ranging), 1845, from range (v.) + -y (2). Also "adapted for ranging" (1868). Of landscapes, "hilly," 1862, Australian English. Related: Ranginess.

As a rule, we hold that the Jersey should be "growthy," deep-flanked, and loose-jointed, and should have, generally, the characteristics which farmers know as "rangy." ["American Agriculturalist," November 1876]