Definition
adjMinor; small in amount
adjMinor; small in amount, Gentle or weak, not aggressive or powerful.
Sentence Examples
Slight inattention can cause a great disaster.
We had a slight difference of opinion.
She gave a slight bow of her head in greeting.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English slight (“bad, of poor quality, unimportant, trivial, slender, slim, smooth, level”), from Old English sliht (“smooth, level”), from Proto-Germanic *slihtaz (“slippery, flat, level, plain”), related to English slick. Cognate with Scots slicht (“bad, of poor quality”), West Frisian sljocht (“smooth, level, plain, simple”), Dutch slecht (“bad”), Low German slecht (“bad”), German schlecht (“bad”) and schlicht (“plain, artless, natural”), Danish slet (“bad, evil, poor, nasty, wrong”), Swedish slät (“smooth”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk slett (“even”), Icelandic sléttur (“even, smooth, level”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom,[…]."
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"Even though there is slight quality variation between the long and short versions of Arabic vowels, the variation is rarely noticeable even by some phoneticians; hence, it does not amount to a source of even phonetic accent except for those learners of Arabic whose language has a strictly centrifugal vowel system such as Spanish, Italian, Tagalog, among others."
— 2014, Edward Y. Odisho, “Some Primary Sources of Accent Generation in the Pronunciation of Arabic by Native Speakers of English”, in Mediterranean Language Review, volume 21, →DOI, page 100 of 91–104:
"Some firmly embrace doctrines upon slight grounds."
— 1741, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education & of the Conduct of the Understanding:
"Slight is the subject, but not so the praise."
— 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto I:
"his own figure, which was formerly so slight"
— 1822, Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak: