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• slim
  slim

  adjective

  slender, as in girth or form; slight in build or structure.
• Slim
  Slim

  noun

  the E African name for AIDS

slim

American  

[slim] / slɪm /

adjective

• slimmer,
  comparative
• slimmest
  superlative

1. slender, as in girth or form; slight in build or structure.

   Synonyms:

   thin

   Antonyms:

   fat

2. poor or inferior.

   a slim chance; a slim excuse.

3. small or inconsiderable; meager; scanty.

   a slim income.

   Synonyms:

   paltry, trivial, trifling, insignificant

   Antonyms:

   abundant, considerable

4. sized for the thinner than average person.

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verb (used with object)

slimmed, slimming

1. to make slim.

verb (used without object)

slimmed, slimming

1. to become slim.

2. Chiefly British. to try to become more slender, especially by dieting.

noun

1. a garment size meant for a thin person.

verb phrase

1. slim down

   1. to lose weight, especially intentionally.

   2. (of a business) to reduce operating expenses; economize.

slim ¹ British  

/ slɪm /

adjective

1. small in width relative to height or length

2. small in amount or quality

   slim chances of success

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verb

1. to make or become slim, esp by diets and exercise

2. to reduce or decrease or cause to be reduced or decreased

Slim ² British  

/ slɪm /

noun

1. the E African name for AIDS

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Slim ³ British  

/ slɪm /

noun

1. William Joseph , 1st Viscount. 1891–1970, British field marshal, who commanded (1943–45) the 14th Army in the reconquest of Burma (now called Myanmar) from the Japanese; governor general of Australia (1953–60)

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Synonym Usage

See slender.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• slimmer
  noun
• slimness
  noun
• unslimness
  noun
• unslim
  adjective
• unslimmed
  adjective
• slimly
  adverb
• unslimly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• slimmer
  comparative
• slimmest
  superlative

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Etymology

Origin of slim

1650–60; < Dutch slim sly, (earlier) crooked (cognate with German schlimm bad, (earlier) crooked)

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Explanation

Anything slim is thin or narrow. So, your sister may be considered slim, and you could also have "a slim chance" of winning the lottery. Slim people are slender, and slim things are usually delicate, like a slim watch band. You can also use slim to describe a margin or a chance: "There was only a slim likelihood that the home team would win this game." Back in the early 1800s, to slim meant "to do one's work carelessly," and in the seventeenth century, the adjective was also used to mean "sly or crafty."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

slim Slim slimmer slimmest slimmed slimming

Sir Geoffrey said "the chaos currently engulfing the Civil Service Pension Scheme means that the likelihood of death benefit payments being made within two years is slim".

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Despite a request from litigants to overturn prior rulings in Kisor, a slim majority of the court ruled that judges were still required to defer to an agency’s interpretations of its regulations.

From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2026

These special editions, slim enough to slip into a pocket, went everywhere men were under arms, from cockpits to foxholes—even to prisoner-of-war camps in Europe and Asia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

“Tied into that, just running a lot. I’m the same weight, 215 or 220-ish, but still slim so I can move fast. Just getting in the gym every day and continuing to keep a routine.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

She handed Coal a slim paperback by someone named Danez Smith.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Instead, he let Slim Shady learn a hard lesson that true southerners know: You lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

Hermès now sells some very high-end mechanical watches, such as a men’s Slim d’Hermès Quantieme Perpetual that costs more than $50,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Nara and Lucky Blue Smith, 28, married in 2020 and share four children: Whimsy Lou, eldest daughter Rumble Honey, son Slim Easy, and infant Fawnie Golden.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

Conagra is known for grocery-aisle staples like Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, and Marie Callender’s.

From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026

In a moment Slim came back into the bunk house.

From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

While Bass led among Black likely voters in the September poll, the already wide margin was much slimmer at that time, at 48% to 20%.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

Just inside the door, there was a flimsy mannequin with the face of a much younger, slimmer Trump, wearing a red “Trump 2028” hat, a dark suit, and a signature red tie.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

The slimmer Whirlpool hunkered down in the Western Hemisphere, where its profit margins were highest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Responding to the watchdog, Jaded London argued it was "not clear" the model was holding a cigarette because it was slimmer than normal and "did not appear to be lit".

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

The Fallohides were fairer of skin and also of hair, and they were taller and slimmer than the others; they were lovers of trees and of woodlands.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Keiko Fujimori won the June 7 presidential runoff by the slimmest of margins, outpolling leftist Roberto Sanchez by fewer than 50,000 votes out of the more than 18 million ballots cast, the final results showed.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

To evoke the fractured psyche of the characters, Morrison’s narratives are highly disjointed, switching among different points of view and time periods with only the slimmest semantic clues offered for orientation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Playing in the Open Division requires extreme focus on taking it one game at a time and never looking ahead because every game can be won or lost by the slimmest of margins.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2026

But when it came to science, Narlikar believed in exploring the slimmest of possibilities.

From BBC ● May 23, 2025

I can see orchards in the distance, and I wonder if that’s where Rue would have worked, collecting the fruit from the slimmest branches at the tops of the trees.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

He has slimmed down his schedule to prioritise the majors.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Though the third installment of the fest has been cut down from 11 days to six, the amount of talent jammed into that week doesn’t appear to have slimmed down much at all.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026

Other consumer-goods groups have also slimmed down or sharpened their focus in recent years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

A dedicated pace coach for the senior side could be another tweak to a backroom staff previously slimmed down by McCullum.

From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2026

She’d slimmed down and shot up and started worrying about clothes.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

But there are also questions about whether the BBC needs to learn from its rivals by slimming down the number of stories it does and prioritizing the big hits.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Retailers are slimming down product lines as they grapple with higher costs to import, move and store goods.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Continental, which has been struggling amid a crisis in the wider European auto sector, has been slimming down its operations to focus on its traditional tyre business.

From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026

It is thought to be the result of rapid slimming, rather than the medication itself.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

I’ve worn black today, because I’ve heard so often that it’s supposed to be slimming.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

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