Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having little width in proportion to height or length; long and thin.
  • adjective Thin and delicate in build; gracefully slim.
  • adjective Small in amount or extent; meager.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Small in width or diameter as compared with the length; slim; thin: as, a slender stem or stalk; a slender waist.
  • In zoology, gracile; tenuous; attenuated: specifically noting various animals and some parts of animals.
  • Weak; feeble; slight; lacking body or strength: as, a slender frame or constitution; slender hopes; slender comfort.
  • Meager; small; scant; inadequate: as, slender means; slender alms.
  • Moderate; inconsiderable; trivial.
  • Not amply supplied.
  • In phonography, the opposite of broad or open. Thus, ē and ī are slender vowels.
  • Synonyms Fragile, flimsy, frail.
  • Scanty, sparing, lean.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Small or narrow in proportion to the length or the height; not thick; slim.
  • adjective Weak; feeble; not strong; slight.
  • adjective Moderate; trivial; inconsiderable; slight.
  • adjective Small; inadequate; meager; pitiful.
  • adjective Spare; abstemious; frugal.
  • adjective (Phon.) Uttered with a thin tone; -- the opposite of broad.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Thin; slim.
  • adjective palatalized

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective small in quantity
  • adjective very narrow
  • adjective being of delicate or slender build
  • adjective having little width in proportion to the length or height
  • adjective moving and bending with ease

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English sclendre, slendre.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English slendre, sclendre, from Old French esclendre ("thin, slender"), from Old Dutch slinder ("thin, lank"), from Proto-Germanic *slindraz (“sliding, slippery”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleidh- (“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.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Not a description often applied to me, I'm afraid.

    October 4, 2007

  • Slender is the poetic way to say skinny.

    October 4, 2007

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    July 8, 2011