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slender

slen·der

UK/ˈslɛndə/ US/ˈslɛndɚ/ uncommon obsolete slang uk

adjective

1.

being of delicate or slender build

  • “she was slender as a willow shoot is slender” Frank Norris
  • “a slim girl with straight blonde hair”
  • “watched her slight figure cross the street”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

very narrow

  • “a thin line across the page”
Synonyms
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3.

having little width in proportion to the length or height

  • “a slender pole”
Similar
4.

small in quantity

  • “slender wages”
  • “a slim chance of winning”
  • “a small surplus”
Synonyms
Similar
5.

Origin

From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre (“thin, slender”), from Middle Dutch slinder (“thin, lank”), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (“sliding, slippery”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”). Cognate with Bavarian Schlenderling (“that which dangles”), German schlendern (“to saunter, stroll”), Dutch slidderen, slinderen (“to wriggle, creep like a serpent”), Low German slindern (“to slide on ice”). More at slide, slither.

Phrases

  • red slender loris
  • slender cypress pine
  • slender loris
  • Slender Man
  • slender-billed curlew
  • slender-billed greenfinch
  • slender-billed gull
  • slender-horned gazelle

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.