stringy

American  

[string-ee] / ˈstrɪŋ i /

adjective

stringier, stringiest

1. resembling a string or strings; consisting of strings or stringlike pieces.

   stringy weeds; a stringy fiber.

2. coarsely or toughly fibrous, as meat.

3. sinewy or wiry, as a person.

4. ropy, as a glutinous liquid.

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stringy British  

/ ˈstrɪŋɪ /

adjective

1. made of strings or resembling strings

2. (of meat, etc) fibrous

3. (of a person's build) wiry; sinewy

4. (of liquids) forming in strings

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stringiness
  noun
• stringily
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of stringy

First recorded in 1660–70; string + -y ¹

Explanation

Anything stringy is made of skinny strands. Some vegetables, like celery or spaghetti squash, are stringy. Long straight hair that hasn’t been washed in awhile can also get stringy. If you have to chew extra hard to make it through a piece of meat, it's stringy. And people who are long, lean, and strong are sometimes described as stringy, or as having stringy muscles. This connection between string and tendons or ligaments can also be seen in words like hamstring and heartstrings. Both string and stringy come from the Old English streng, "line or cord."

Example Sentences

"They are currently called 'the stringy things' and 'the drummy things'," laughs Franglen.

From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025

In this case: a stringy slot corner who never had been credited for a sack in his college career.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 24, 2024

If your cooked lobster is too stringy or tough, that means it’s been overcooked.

From Salon • Sep. 1, 2024

Davidsen starts this “Salome” in a back room of the brutalist set where Herod’s orgy is taking place, wearing a white raincoat, her black hair stringy in a Goth look.

From Seattle Times • May 13, 2024

She had stringy brown hair and hard, suspicious eyes.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie