slender
Americanadjective
-
slenderer,
comparative
-
slenderest
superlative
-
having a circumference that is small in proportion to the height or length.
a slender post.
-
thin or slight; light and graceful.
slender youths.
-
small in size, amount, extent, etc.; meager.
a slender income.
-
having little value, force, or justification.
slender prospects.
-
thin or weak, as sound.
adjective
-
of small width relative to length or height
-
(esp of a person's figure) slim and well-formed
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small or inadequate in amount, size, etc
slender resources
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(of hopes, etc) having little foundation; feeble
-
very small
a slender margin
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(of a sound) lacking volume
-
phonetics (now only in Irish phonology) relating to or denoting a close front vowel, such as i or e
Synonym Usage
Slender, slight, slim imply a tendency toward thinness. As applied to the human body, slender implies a generally attractive and pleasing thinness: slender hands. Slight often adds the idea of frailness to that of thinness: a slight, almost fragile, figure. Slim implies a lithe or delicate thinness: a slim and athletic figure.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of slender
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English slendre, sclendre; origin unknown
Explanation
Something slender is slight, or skinny. A young colt is slender compared to the full grown horse it will grow into. Slender can be used in both positive and negative ways. If someone tells you you have a slender figure, you'll probably be happy, unless you're going for muscle-mass. A slender portion of potatoes will not cheer a hungry growing boy. If you don't know much about something, you can say your knowledge of it is slender. And if you become an artist, get used to living on a slender budget. Now that's a nice way to put it.
Vocabulary lists containing slender
15 Synonyms for "Thin": An Eileen Ford (1922-2014) Tribute List
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The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora
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Prince Caspian
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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:
A delicious, slender bean-and-cheese burrito with no sauce at the venerable Al & Bea’s in Boyle Heights is going for six bucks and change right now when it was about $2 cheaper two years ago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
When the Kimberly-Clark team studied it, the length of its fibers and their slender diameter stood out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
One was Hesperosuchus agilis, a fast land predator with a long snout, powerful hind legs, and smaller, more slender front limbs.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026
The British Trust for Ornithology said there were a handful of sightings of the "slender and graceful" bird in the UK, mostly from August to October.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
It was slender and moved so easily that she thought it must be Anat.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
"It is more likely than not that megalodon must have had a much slenderer body than the modern great white shark."
From Salon ● Mar. 10, 2025
And it consisted of a series of stacked volumes that grew slenderer and more circular as the tower rose.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2020
“In the Realm of Perfection” is slenderer, knottier, more self-consciously besotted than that.
From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2018
Its signs also use a sans-serif font, although one that's slenderer and more delicate than Helvetica.
From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2017
The branch he had jumped from was slenderer than it looked from the ground and much higher.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
In her review of the 1978 production, Times theater critic Sylvie Drake identifies “Fam and Yam” as the weak link in “Albee Directs Albee,” calling the playlet “the slenderest of self-jibes” and a “threadbare spoof.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2022
But what “Sollers Point” accomplishes is a singular balancing act, compensating for the mood of heavy discouragement with only the slenderest thread of hope.
From Washington Post ● May 21, 2018
Even the slenderest of biographies from the Arthur Schlesinger presidential series runs around 200 pages, and a Ron Chernow joint will push past 800.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2017
Rosberg, meanwhile, has to beat Hamilton at the Circuit of Americas to have any hope of maintaining even the slenderest of interests in this season's title race.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2015
Gale always says I remind him of a squirrel the way I can scurry up even the slenderest limb.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
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.
