THIN (thinned, thinner, thinnest, thinning)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does thin mean? 

• THIN (adjective)
  The adjective THIN has 8 senses:

1. of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section

2. lacking excess flesh

3. very narrow

4. not dense

5. relatively thin in consistency or low in density; not viscous

6. (of sound) lacking resonance or volume

7. lacking spirit or sincere effort

8. lacking substance or significance

  Familiarity information: THIN used as an adjective is common.

• THIN (verb)
  The verb THIN has 4 senses:

1. lose thickness; become thin or thinner

2. make thin or thinner

3. lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture

4. take off weight

  Familiarity information: THIN used as a verb is uncommon.

• THIN (adverb)
  The adverb THIN has 1 sense:

1. without viscosity

  Familiarity information: THIN used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THIN (adjective)

Declension: comparative and superlative

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section

Context example:

a thin layer of paint

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)

depressed (flattened downward as if pressed from above or flattened along the dorsal and ventral surfaces)

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)

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 2

Meaning:

Lacking excess flesh

Synonyms:

lean; thin

Context example:

Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look

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)

spare; trim (thin and fit)

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)

reedlike; reedy (resembling a reed in being upright and slender)

rawboned (having a lean and bony physique)

lank; spindly (long and lean)

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)

twiggy; twiglike (thin as a twig)

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:

Very narrow

Synonyms:

slender; thin

Context example:

a thin line across the page

Similar:

narrow (not wide)

Derivation:

thinness (the property of being very narrow or thin)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Not dense

Synonyms:

sparse; thin

Context example:

trees were sparse

Similar:

distributed (spread out or scattered about or divided up)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Relatively thin in consistency or low in density; not viscous

Context example:

thin oil

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 6

Meaning:

(of sound) lacking resonance or volume

Context example:

a thin feeble cry

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 7

Meaning:

Lacking spirit or sincere effort

Context example:

a thin smile

Similar:

spiritless (lacking ardor or vigor or energy)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Lacking substance or significance

Synonyms:

flimsy; fragile; slight; tenuous; thin

Context example:

a fragile claim to fame

Similar:

insignificant; unimportant (devoid of importance, meaning, or force)

Derivation:

thinness (the property of being scanty or scattered; lacking denseness)

• THIN (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make thin or thinner

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

Thin the solution

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 3

Meaning:

Lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

cut; dilute; reduce; thin; thin out

Context example:

cut bourbon

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 4

Meaning:

Take off weight

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

melt off; reduce; slenderize; slim; slim down; thin

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

• THIN (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without viscosity

Synonyms:

thin; thinly

Context example:

the blood was flowing thin

 Context examples 

Then she looked around the room, and seeing where she was, shuddered; she gave a loud cry, and put her poor thin hands before her pale face.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This is most often done by inserting thin needles through the skin, to cause a change in the physical functions of the body.

(Acupuncture, NIH: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

I thought Mrs. and Miss Creakle (at whom I now glanced for the first time, and who were, both, thin and quiet) were not disappointed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When a thin needle is used, the procedure is called a fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

(Biopsy, NCI Dictionary)

She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Holmes’ thin, eager face.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Holmes leaned forward and laid his long, thin fingers upon the woman’s shoulder.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She looked pale and thin: she said she was not happy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was a little gentleman, with glasses, thin in the face, but very pleasant in his ways, for he was laughing all the time that he was talking.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is bound by thin membranes.

(Murine Peritoneal Cavity, NCI Thesaurus)

Close to us was the high thin pinnacle of rock which I believe I mentioned earlier in this narrative.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)