Nimble Meaning
/ˈnɪmbəl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjAdept at taking or grasping.
adjQuick and light in movement or action.
Sentence Examples
Squirrels are nimble in climbing trees.
He has a nimble mind.
Poor cat! She can't catch the nimble mouse.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The gymnast moved with such ease that the audience admired her ____ movements on the balance beam.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mountain goat was very ____, jumping easily from one rocky ledge to another.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…] if the men should not agree what to play, but one would have a grave Pavane, another a nimbler Galliard, a third some frisking toy or Iigg, and then all of them should be wilful, none yield to his fellow, but every one scrape on his own tune as loud as he could: what a hideous hateful noise may you imagine would such a mess of Musick be?"
— 1656, Robert Sanderson, Twenty Sermons, London: Henry Seile, Sermon 13, p. 267:
"Attempts to introduce versions of "market communism" — in China, Hungary or Yugoslavia — have shown how hard it is to make mainly state-owned economies as nimble as mainly private ones."
— 1988, The Economist, volume 306, numbers 7532-7539, page 13:
"The quickest and nimblest were probably the oxycones, throwing themselves through the water like discuses."
— 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 87:
""It requires you to be flexible and nimble in your thinking and Huw has already demonstrated that," said Greenwood, [...]"
— 2020 May 20, “Merriman praised over handling of TSC's 'virtual' transition”, in Rail, page 12:
"Their teeth are regularly and assiduously cleaned by shrimp that nimble in and out of the moray's mouth like ballet dancers in the jaws of a mechanical stage dragon."
— 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 72:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The gymnast moved with such ease that the audience admired her ____ movements on the balance beam.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mountain goat was very ____, jumping easily from one rocky ledge to another.