slender, as in girth or form; slight in build or structure.
poor or inferior.
a slim chance; a slim excuse.
small or inconsiderable; meager; scanty.
a slim income.
sized for the thinner than average person.
to become slim.
Chiefly British. to try to become more slender, especially by dieting.
small in width relative to height or length
small in amount or quality
slim chances of success
to make or become slim, esp by diets and exercise
to reduce or decrease or cause to be reduced or decreased
See slender.
1650–60; < Dutch slim sly, (earlier) crooked (cognate with German schlimm bad, (earlier) crooked)
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Your chances of running into a marketer at a neighborhood bar are slim but never zero.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
Type 2 diabetes can sometimes be put into remission by eating a healthy diet and keeping slim without needing to rely on glucose-lowering medications.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The most daring, the most violent, the "person in the top gear", as one 23-year-old put it, has a chance -- albeit slim -- of rising through the ranks.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
Volkswagen has tried to slim down as profits have dwindled, and struck a deal with unions in late 2024 to shed 35,000 jobs by 2030 at the company’s core operations in Germany.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
A familiar hand, slim and white with a small silver ring, darted out and smacked mine.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
The home of a Brighton music venue is to become community owned as part of a £7m initiative backed by DJ Fatboy Slim and Andy Burnham dubbed the "National Trust of music venues".
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Nara and Lucky Blue Smith, 28, married in 2020 and share four children: eldest daughter Rumble Honey, son Slim Easy, Whimsy Lou and infant Fawnie Golden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
Conagra is known for grocery-aisle staples like Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, and Marie Callender’s.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Slim and silver-haired, he started out as an investment banker working with oil-and-gas businesses and was elevated to run the energy banking group by Todd Maclin, a former executive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Slim says I ain’t to pet ‘em very much.”
From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
The results pile pressure on the beleaguered group, which has been suffering from slimmer margins from the sales of electric cars, US tariffs and above all intense Chinese competition.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
The U.S. strategic crude stockpiles are dwindling at a record pace and are approaching their lowest in decades — but concerns about slimmer reserves may be overblown.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
But for “middle restaurants” — between fast-casual spots without extensive table service and high-level tasting menus — restaurateurs often make up for the slimmer margins with volume.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
A new, slimmer version was introduced on Friday—a reflection, said Sean Quinn, a partner at law firm Cooley, of the shifting political tides and the strength of the industry resistance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
One of them is a little taller and slimmer than the other, but they definitely look alike.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
PNC Bank data also show that lower-income household spending, excluding gasoline, has accelerated this year, narrowing the gap with higher-income spending growth to the slimmest margin since 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
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
But when it came to science, Narlikar believed in exploring the slimmest of possibilities.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
The next day, Kennedy would take the lead over Nixon and then go on to win the election by one of the slimmest margins in history.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2025
My aunt wasn’t a timid woman, but even at her slimmest, I can’t see her ever entering this pageant.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman cut deeper into the lead of reality television personality Spencer Pratt on Saturday, as his lead slimmed to just a single percentage point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
Other consumer-goods groups have also slimmed down or sharpened their focus in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Though the fest itself 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 ● Jan. 20, 2026
Mr. Plemons, who has slimmed down to scarecrow dimensions to suit a character who has renounced all worldly pleasures, is one of those rare actors who never seem to be acting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
She’d slimmed down and shot up and started worrying about clothes.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
It is like “everyone was just given the ability to take a GLP-1,” says Reno, comparing the AI’s slimming effects on companies to weight-loss drugs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
The maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks said Wednesday that slimming down its staff would improve efficiency companywide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
J&J spent the past few years slimming down its business to focus on six categories, one of which is immunology drugs.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 2026
Beauticians already advertise rapid slimming "packages" for weddings or social events.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 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
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.
