Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Small in girth or thickness in proportion to height or length; slender.
  • adjective Small in quantity or amount; meager.
  • intransitive & transitive verb To become or make slim.
  • intransitive & transitive verb To lose or cause to lose weight, as by dieting or exercise.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Middle English form of slime.
  • Cunning; crafty; tricky.
  • Thin; slender: as, a slim waist.
  • Hence Slight; flimsy; unsubstantial: as, slim work.
  • Delicate; feeble.
  • Slight; weak; trivial.
  • Meager; small: as, a slim chance.
  • Worthless; bad; wicked.
  • SynonymsLank, gaunt, meager.
  • To scamp one's work; do work in a careless, superficial manner.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Prov. Eng. & Scot. Worthless; bad.
  • adjective Weak; slight; unsubstantial; poor.
  • adjective Of small diameter or thickness in proportion to the height or length; slender

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Slender, thin.
  • adjective Very small, tiny.
  • adjective South Africa Sly, crafty.
  • noun A type of cigarette substantially longer and thinner than normal cigarettes
  • noun East Africa AIDS, or the chronic wasting associated with its later stages
  • noun slang, uncountable Cocaine; white lady.
  • verb To lose weight in order to achieve slimness

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective small in quantity
  • adjective being of delicate or slender build
  • verb take off weight

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Dutch, bad, sly, from Middle Dutch slimp, slim, bad, crooked.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch slim ("bad, sly, clever"), from Middle Dutch slim ("bad, crooked"), from Proto-Germanic *slembaz (“oblique, crooked”). Compare Middle High German slimp ("slanting, awry") (German schlimm ("bad")).

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Examples

  • They said it would be possible to write what one called a 'slim' contract of 6-8 pages that laid out essential provisions: due process, some say in hiring, a role in evaluation, a role in developing curricula and assessments, and other professional issues.

    John Merrow: The International Education Divide John Merrow 2011

  • They said it would be possible to write what one called a 'slim' contract of 6-8 pages that laid out essential provisions: due process, some say in hiring, a role in evaluation, a role in developing curricula and assessments, and other professional issues.

    John Merrow: The International Education Divide John Merrow 2011

  • He got himself the proper clothing and his first racing bike—a Mercier—which he described as a slim, elegant road bike, and jumped into his first triathlon with no previous experience or specific training.

    LANCE ARMSTRONG BILL GUTMAN 2003

  • He got himself the proper clothing and his first racing bike—a Mercier—which he described as a slim, elegant road bike, and jumped into his first triathlon with no previous experience or specific training.

    LANCE ARMSTRONG BILL GUTMAN 2003

  • Aged 14, he decided he preferred the English word "slim" to being called "spaghetti" or other French insults.

    The Guardian World News 2009

  • Let the infighting begin. anytimecowboy: This is amazing, the GOP has no front runner for jamerican negril 1 minute ago (10:32 AM) i can't wait until the televised teaKKKlan "debates" when they tear int0 0ne an0ther! jamerican_negril: i can't wait until the televised teaKKKlan "debates" when they Petey131 8 minutes ago (10:25 AM) The word "slim" is no where to be found in this t00l... akrazyrunner 12 minutes ago (10:21 AM) You mean the Governor elected with less than 50% of the vote in an off year election with an "Independe ­nt" spoiler in the race in somehow unpopular?

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • Barrak Obama has two changes to win in 2012 Slim and None and slim is voting Republican.

    CNN Poll: Independents disapprove of Obama 2009

  • I am not saying that you should not be interested in slim people.

    Ask Professor Foxy: Does My Size and Not Flirting Keep Me Alone? - Feministing 2009

  • At Lane Bryant, narrow-cut "skinny jeans" sell well, but are called "slim."

    Project Plus-Size Sarah Nassauer 2011

  • It was already taking a toll in Africa, where it was called slim disease.

    Reflections on 30 Years of HIV/AIDS 2011

Comments

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  • I love the way this word feels in my mouth - along with slit and slip.

    August 10, 2008