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:
An old soul with with a huge, commanding voice, his catalog hovers between the orchestral swoon of pre-rock ballads, the pristine melodies of Anita Baker and the rangy, resilient yearning of his hometown’s soul tradition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
Hawke’s rangy crusader happens to be a magnet for that type of trouble.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
Sing is probably the best kicker in the Red Roses squad, striking the ball prodigous distances, and is a rangy runner with a powerful hand-off.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2025
Scoring three minutes after coming on is a dream impact for any substitute, which is what the rangy Polvara did.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025
His opponents were gray wolves, rangy and wild, but cousins to the white wolves of the Fjerdan north.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
But that absence forced a concentrated listening, or at least forbade a distracted one, which proved useful during some of the night’s rangier moments.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
The group is rangier and more athletic following the release of Collins, the emergence of second-year player Darrick Forrest and the addition of Percy Butler in the draft.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 7, 2022
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
The two Swifts resembled each other closely—each had deep-set blue eyes and clean-cut features—although Tom was somewhat taller and rangier.
From Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung by Brey, Charles
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.
