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

• stringily adverb
• stringiness noun

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

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

Fiber is cellulose, the stringy stuff that plants are made of.

From Science Daily • Mar. 18, 2024

The flesh inside becomes stringy when cooked, which serves as one of its most defining characteristics.

From Salon • Oct. 8, 2023

On the hellhound’s back sat the skinniest harpy Annabeth had ever seen—a sickly-looking girl with stringy red hair, a sackcloth dress, and red-feathered wings.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan