| / English Dictionary |
THIN
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: thinned , thinner , thinnest , thinning
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not dense
Example:
trees were sparse
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
distributed (spread out or scattered about or divided up)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking excess flesh
Example:
Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look
Synonyms:
lean; thin
Classified under:
Similar:
scarecrowish (resembling a scarecrow in being thin and ragged)
boney; bony; scraggly; scraggy; scrawny; skinny; underweight; weedy (being very thin)
shriveled; shrivelled; shrunken; withered; wizen; wizened (lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness)
slender; slight; slim; svelte (being of delicate or slender build)
slender-waisted; slim-waisted; wasp-waisted (having a small waist)
spindle-legged; spindle-shanked (having long slender legs)
stringy; wiry (lean and sinewy)
sylphic; sylphlike ((of a woman or girl) slender and graceful like a sylph)
wisplike; wispy (thin and weak)
twiggy; twiglike (thin as a twig)
reedlike; reedy (resembling a reed in being upright and slender)
rawboned (having a lean and bony physique)
gangling; gangly; lanky (tall and thin)
deep-eyed; hollow-eyed; sunken-eyed (characteristic of the bony face of a cadaver)
cadaverous; emaciated; gaunt; haggard; pinched; skeletal; wasted (very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold)
anorectic; anorexic (suffering from anorexia nervosa; pathologically thin)
Also:
ectomorphic (having a build with little fat or muscle but with long limbs)
thin (of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section)
Attribute:
body weight (the weight of a person's body)
Antonym:
fat (having an (over)abundance of flesh)
Derivation:
thinness (the property of having little body fat)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(of sound) lacking resonance or volume
Example:
a thin feeble cry
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
pale (not full or rich)
Antonym:
full ((of sound) having marked deepness and body)
Derivation:
thinness (the property of being scanty or scattered; lacking denseness)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lacking substance or significance
Example:
a fragile claim to fame
Synonyms:
flimsy; fragile; slight; tenuous; thin
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
insignificant; unimportant (devoid of importance, meaning, or force)
Derivation:
thinness (the property of being scanty or scattered; lacking denseness)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Lacking spirit or sincere effort
Example:
a thin smile
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
spiritless (lacking ardor or vigor or energy)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section
Example:
a thin layer of paint
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
wafer-thin (very thin)
tenuous (very thin in gauge or diameter)
slender (having little width in proportion to the length or height)
sleazy (of cloth; thin and loosely woven)
ribbonlike; ribbony (long and thin; resembling a ribbon)
papery (thin and paperlike)
paper thin (thin as paper)
hyperfine (extremely fine or thin, as in a spectral line split into two or more components)
light (very thin and insubstantial)
fine (thin in thickness or diameter)
filamentlike; filamentous; filiform; threadlike; thready (thin in diameter; resembling a thread)
cobwebby; diaphanous; filmy; gauze-like; gauzy; gossamer; see-through; sheer; transparent; vaporous; vapourous (so thin as to transmit light)
depressed (flattened downward as if pressed from above or flattened along the dorsal and ventral surfaces)
compressed; flat (flattened laterally along the whole length (e.g., certain leafstalks or flatfishes))
capillary; hairlike (long and slender with a very small internal diameter)
bladed (composed of thin flat plates resembling a knife blade)
Also:
lean; thin (lacking excess flesh)
narrow (not wide)
Attribute:
thickness (the dimension through an object as opposed to its length or width)
Antonym:
thick (not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions)
Derivation:
thinness (relatively small dimension through an object as opposed to its length or width)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Relatively thin in consistency or low in density; not viscous
Example:
thin oil
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tenuous (having thin consistency)
rare; rarefied; rarified (having low density)
Attribute:
body; consistence; consistency; substance (the property of holding together and retaining its shape)
thickness (resistance to flow)
Antonym:
thick (relatively dense in consistency)
Derivation:
thinness (a consistency of low viscosity)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Very narrow
Example:
a thin line across the page
Synonyms:
slender; thin
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
narrow (not wide)
Derivation:
thinness (the property of being very narrow or thin)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they thin ... he / she / it thins
Past simple: thinned
Past participle: thinned
-ing form: thinning
Sense 1
Meaning:
Take off weight
Synonyms:
melt off; reduce; slenderize; slim; slim down; thin
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Hypernyms (to "thin" is one way to...):
change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "thin"):
sweat off (lose weight by sweating)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
Example:
cut bourbon
Synonyms:
cut; dilute; reduce; thin; thin out
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "thin" is one way to...):
weaken (lessen the strength of)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "thin"):
water down (make less strong or intense)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
thinner (a diluting agent)
thinning (the act of diluting something)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Make thin or thinner
Example:
Thin the solution
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "thin" is one way to...):
bring down; cut; cut back; cut down; reduce; trim; trim back; trim down (cut down on; make a reduction in)
Cause:
thin (lose thickness; become thin or thinner)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "thin"):
draw (reduce the diameter of (a wire or metal rod) by pulling it through a die)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Antonym:
thicken (make thick or thicker)
Derivation:
thinner (a diluting agent)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lose thickness; become thin or thinner
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "thin" is one way to...):
change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Antonym:
thicken (become thick or thicker)
III. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Without viscosity
Example:
the blood was flowing thin
Synonyms:
thin; thinly
Classified under:
Context examples:
A thin membrane that lines the ventricles of the brain and the central canal of the SPINAL CORD.
(Murine Ependyma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
A thin layer of smooth muscle within the bladder lamina propria.
(Bladder Muscularis Mucosa, NCI Thesaurus)
Researchers have found a way to use a thin membrane to turn Australian-made hydrogen into ammonia.
(Cars Powered by New Fuel Type Tested in Australia, VOA)
The other one is Lord Foley—they call him No. 11, on account of his thin legs.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
— she looks very unwell, has lost her colour, and is grown quite thin.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
To be sure London was rather thin, but, however, the Little Theatre was open.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
A thin tube within the liver that collect bile secreted by hepatocytes.
(Bile Canaliculus, NCI Thesaurus)
She is not thin, but round like baby; her arm, her leg, her muscles, all soft and round like baby.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
If it was not for the drawback of her illness—but I am afraid we must expect to see her grown thin, and looking very poorly.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I am grown wretchedly thin, I know; but I will not pain you by describing my anxiety; you have seen enough of it.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
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