nimble

CEFRC1

/ˈnɪmbəl/

adjective · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Able to move quickly and easily.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Quick and light in movement or action.

Examples

  • Poor cat! She can't catch the nimble mouse.

  • He has a nimble mind.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈnɪmbəl] ~ [ˈnɪmbl̩]

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Quickwitted and alert.

  2. Adept at taking or grasping.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To move nimbly.

More examples

In context

  • Squirrels are nimble in climbing trees.

  • He has a nimble mind and can improvise in any situation.

  • He was too nimble for the assailant and easily escaped his grasp.

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The gymnast moved with such ease that the audience admired her blank movements on the balance beam.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English nymyl, nemel, nemyll, nymell (“agile, quick, ready, able, capable”), merger of Old English nǣmel (“receptive, quick to grasp”) and Old English numol (“able to take, capable of holding”), both from niman (“to take”) + -el, -ol (associative suffix), corresponding to nim + -le. Compare German nehmen, Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old Norse nema (“to take”). More at nim.