thin

pronunciation

How to pronounce thin in British English: UK [θɪn]word uk audio image

How to pronounce thin in American English: US [θɪn] word us audio image

  • Verb:
    lose thickness; become thin or thinner
    make thin or thinner
    lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
    take off weight
  • Adjective:
    of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section
    lacking excess flesh
    very narrow
    having little substance or significance
    not dense
    relatively thin in consistency or low in density; not viscous
    (of sound) lacking resonance or volume
    lacking spirit or sincere effort
  • Adverb:
    without viscosity

Word Origin

thin
thin: [OE] Thin denotes etymologically ‘stretched’. It goes back ultimately to the Indo- European base *ten- ‘stretch’, which also produced Latin tenuis ‘thin’ (source of English tenuous) and Latin tendere ‘stretch’ (source of English tend, tense, etc). From this was descended prehistoric Germanic *thunnuz, which has evolved into German dünn, Dutch dun, Swedish tunn, Danish tynd, and English thin.=> tend, tense, tenuous
thin (adj.)
Old English þynne "narrow, lean, scanty, not dense; fluid, tenuous; weak, poor," from Proto-Germanic *thunni "thin" (cognates: West Frisian ten, Middle Low German dunne, Middle Dutch dunne, Dutch dun, Old High German dunni, German dünn, Old Norse þunnr, Swedish tunn, Danish tynd), from PIE *tnu- "stretched, stretched out" (hence "thin"), from root *ten- "to stretch" (cognates: Latin tenuis "thin, slender;" see tenet). These our actors ... were all Spirits, and Are melted into Ayre, into thin Ayre. [Shakespeare, "The Tempest," IV.i.150, 1610] "Loose or sparse," hence "easily seen through," with figurative extensions. Related: Thinly; thinness. Thin-skinned is attested from 1590s; the figurative sense of "touchy" is from 1670s.
thin (v.)
Old English þynnian "to make thin, lessen, dilute," also intransitive, "become thin," from thin (adj.). Intransitive sense of "to become less numerous" is attested from 1743; that of "to become thinner" is recorded from 1804. Compare similarly formed German dünnen, Dutch dunnen. Related: Thinned; thinning.

Antonym

Example

1. I saw huge protruding ears and thin lips .
2. Names of fish were chalked on thin slats of wood .
3. Burst housing bubbles have revealed how thin the tax base is .
4. This means that the resulting cells can be made very thin .
5. Inuit hunters are finding the sea ice too thin to bear their sleds .

more: >How to Use "thin" with Example Sentences