slim

CEFRB1

/ˈslɪm/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Thin in an attractive way; to reduce in size.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Slender; thin., Designed to make the wearer appear slim.

Examples

  • She only has a slim chance of passing the exam.

  • There's little chance of keeping slim, unless you stick to a diet.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Slender; thin., Long and narrow.

  2. Slender; thin.

  3. Slender in an attractive way.

More examples

In context

  • Young girls' desire for slim figures is strong.

  • I'm afraid your chances are quite slim.

  • Juries who will convict on the slimmest evidence.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Because he stopped eating junk food, his waistline became blank and his old pants were too loose.

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

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Borrowing from Low German or Dutch slim (“bad, sly, clever”), from Middle Dutch slim (“bad, crooked”), from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-West Germanic *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”). The sense development would have been "slanting, cunning" (Dutch) > "insignificant, slight" and then "thin, graceful" in English, a shift that Liberman calls an "incredible amelioration" of word meaning. The pejorative sense found in Low German and Dutch is also found preserved in the archaic English noun slim (“worthless or lazy person”), also comparable to the South African use of the adjective as "crafty, sly." Compare Dutch slim (“smart, clever, crafty”), Middle High German slimp...