thin

American  

[thin] / θɪn /

adjective

• thinner,
  comparative
• thinnest
  superlative

1. 

   having relatively little extent from one surface or side to the opposite; not thick.

   thin ice.

2. of small cross section in comparison with the length; slender.

   a thin wire.

3. having little flesh; spare; lean.

   a thin man.

   Synonyms:

   scrawny, lank, skinny, slender, slim

4. composed of or containing objects, particles, etc., widely separated; sparse.

   thin vegetation.

5. scant; not abundant or plentiful.

   Synonyms:

   meager

6. of relatively slight consistency or viscosity.

   thin soup.

7. rarefied, as air.

8. without solidity or substance; flimsy.

   a very thin plot for such a long book.

   Synonyms:

   weak

9. lacking fullness or volume; weak and shrill.

   a thin voice.

10. without force or a sincere effort.

    a thin smile.

11. lacking body, richness, or strength.

    a thin wine.

12. lacking in chroma; of light tint.

13. Photography. (of a developed negative) lacking in density or contrast through underdevelopment or underexposure.

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adverb

1. in a thin manner.

2. sparsely; not densely.

3. so as to produce something thin.

   Slice the ham thin.

verb (used with object)

• thins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• thinned,
  past participle,  past
• thinning
  present participle

1. to make thin or thinner (often followed by down, out, etc.).

verb (used without object)

• thins,
  present (3rd person singular)
• thinned,
  past participle,  past
• thinning
  present participle

1. to become thin or thinner; become reduced or diminished (often followed by down, out, off, etc.).

   The crowd is thinning out.

thin British  

/ θɪn /

adjective

1. of relatively small extent from one side or surface to the other; fine or narrow

2. slim or lean

3. sparsely placed; meagre

   thin hair

4. of relatively low density or viscosity

   a thin liquid

5. weak; poor; insufficient

   a thin disguise

6. (of a photographic negative) having low density, usually insufficient to produce a satisfactory positive

7. mountaineering a climb or pitch on which the holds are few and small

8. few in number; scarce

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adverb

1. in order to produce something thin

   to cut bread thin

verb

1. to make or become thin or sparse

thin Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing thin

• into thin air
• on thin ice
• spread oneself too thin
• through thick and thin
• wear thin

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Synonym Usage

Thin, gaunt, lean, spare agree in referring to one having little flesh. Thin applies often to one in an unnaturally reduced state, as from sickness, overwork, lack of food, or the like: a thin, dirty little waif. Gaunt suggests the angularity of bones prominently displayed in a thin face and body: to look ill and gaunt. Lean usually applies to a person or animal that is naturally thin: looking lean but healthy after an outdoor vacation. Spare implies a muscular leanness with no diminution of vitality: Lincoln was spare in body.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overthinness
  noun
• thinness
  noun
• overthin
  adjective
• self-thinning
  adjective
• superthin
  adjective
• unthinned
  adjective
• unthinning
  adjective
• overthinly
  adverb
• thinly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• thinner
  comparative
• thinnest
  superlative

Participles

• thinning
  present
• thinned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• thin
  simple
• thins
  simple
• have thinned
  perfect
• has thinned
  perfect
• am thinning
  progressive
• are thinning
  progressive
• is thinning
  progressive
• have been thinning
  perfect progressive
• has been thinning
  perfect progressive

Past

• thinned
  simple
• had thinned
  perfect
• was thinning
  progressive
• were thinning
  progressive
• had been thinning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will thin
  simple
• will have thinned
  perfect
• will be thinning
  progressive
• will have been thinning
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of thin

First recorded before 900; (adjective and adverb) Middle English thyn(ne), Old English thynne; cognate with Dutch dun, German dünn, Old Norse thunnr; (verb) Middle English thynnen, Old English thynnian, derivative of the adjective; compare Middle Dutch dunnen, Old Norse thynna; akin to Old Irish tana, Latin tenuis thin, Greek tany- long

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Explanation

Something thin is narrow or not very thick. If you wear thin socks on a cold winter day, your toes might start to feel numb. Thin can describe something that is narrow and slender, like a hair or a thread. It can also describe a layer of something that is not very thick, such as paper. To thin something out is to make it lesser or weaker, like thinning out a sauce by adding water. You can also use this word figuratively. An argument that is not very convincing is thin.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thin thinner thinnest thins thinned thinning

Modern computer chips require exceptionally thin layers, but multiferroics traditionally stop functioning properly when reduced to such dimensions.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2026

So the missing month made inflation look thin a year ago, and now it can make inflation look fat.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026

The Rams were already thin at receiver after Adams suffered a hamstring injury that has kept him out of the lineup since Week 7.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026

“We just were really short on feed and really thin in the pocketbook,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026

It was a thin broth made from boiled elk hooves and a few slivers of dried deer heart, bulked up with rowanberries and the tough, tasteless tree-mushroom that the clans call auroch’s ears.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

"If you go back to the fields you were walking in when you were young, you will notice that there is a thinner soil on there and there's more rock on the surface," he said.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026

According to the researchers, the stickiest particles can transport more than six times as much carbon to the deep ocean as particles with a thinner, less viscous consistency.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2026

As richer veins have been depleted, thinner seams are dug, with more rock being ground up and more silica being released into the atmosphere surrounding the workers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

At 4-4, and with San Francisco and Seattle looking as good as they have, the margin for error for the Rams is thinner than the 156-pound Grupe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

He ended up a little thinner, a little paler, and a lot hoarser than before.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

“I couldn’t eat. I was the thinnest I’d ever been. I was just so anxious every day, not having answers to these questions,” Bayouth said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

And the U.S. is meeting this challenge with the thinnest oil-reserve cushion in a generation.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

But I also looked in at myself as a mother through the leaded-glass pane of our very lovely living-room windows, and I saw a washed-out woman worn down to the thinnest thread.

From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026

The Air is billed as Apple’s thinnest smartphone yet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025

“Congratulations!” he exclaimed bitterly, the thinnest milk- white line enclosing his lips tightly in a bloodless, squeezing ring.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Buying equity stakes rather than owning depreciating fleets softens that, but the line between “demand layer” and “co-investor in hardware” thins with each deal.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026

The term describes how the crust stretches and thins in the middle, similar to the narrowed "neck" that forms when a piece of saltwater taffy is pulled apart.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026

The eurozone data calendar thins out after the usual end-of-month avalanche.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

As the infrastructure thins out the further you travel, roads are replaced by dirt tracks created by the few vehicles that pass.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2025

The green stuff thins down to just kind of washy.

From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor

The largest trees in the thinned stands were 20% bigger in diameter than those in the unharvested control areas.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026

But it’s especially bad for big agricultural states, where margins were already thinned due to tariffs and fertilizer prices.

From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2026

The yen’s moves on Monday may rekindle market chatter about potential intervention, particularly as authorities have in the past taken advantage of thinned liquidity during public holidays to step in.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

After a short while the brush thinned, and I ran through the woods until I reached the banks of Burden Creek.

From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien

An outer buffer that slows wildfires by thinning dense trees, clearing dead brush, and breaking up continuous vegetation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Not long after beginning university, she started experiencing irregular and painful periods, thinning hair, weight gain and exhaustion.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

Memory problems, thinning skin, and declining bone mass may seem like separate consequences of growing older.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

The chart below shows the thinning gap between annualized inflation rates and APYs.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

Wolves walking down the mountains, into the dry thinning scalp of the middle of Iran, would be looking for juicy sheep.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

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Related Words

• delicate
• fragile
• gaunt
• lean
• meager
• narrow
• skinny
• slim
• small

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