Definitions

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

  • adjective Consisting of or resembling thread; filamentous.
  • adjective Capable of forming or tending to form threads; viscid.
  • adjective Medicine Weak and shallow. Used of a pulse.
  • adjective Lacking fullness of tone; thin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Resembling or consisting of thread in sense 1, 2, or 5.
  • Containing thread; covered with thread.
  • Like thread in length and slenderness; finely stringy; filamentous; fibrillar; finely fibrous.

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

  • adjective Like thread or filaments; slender.
  • adjective Containing, or consisting of, thread.

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

  • adjective Of, resembling of capable of forming a thread; filamentous
  • adjective of a pulse weak

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

  • adjective thin in diameter; resembling a thread
  • adjective forming viscous or glutinous threads

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

thread + -y

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Examples

  • It can jump up to your finger with each beat of the heart, making it feel taut or wiry, indicating pain, or it can feel as if it’s barely reaching your fingers; this is known as thready, and may show a body weakness.

    The Last Chance Dog D.V.M. Donna Kelleher 2003

  • It can jump up to your finger with each beat of the heart, making it feel taut or wiry, indicating pain, or it can feel as if it’s barely reaching your fingers; this is known as thready, and may show a body weakness.

    The Last Chance Dog D.V.M. Donna Kelleher 2003

  • I gave him some of the contents to amuse him, and then entering the deserted grinding-shop, walked straight to the door at the end opening into the great wheel-pit, and throwing it back stood upon the little platform built out, and looked down at the black water, which received enough from the full dam to keep it in motion and make the surface seem to be covered with a kind of thready film that was always opening and closing, and spreading all over the place to the very walls.

    Patience Wins War in the Works George Manville Fenn 1870

  • His breath was weak and thready, and a lump was beginning to swell oddly on the back of his head.

    Rogue Oracle 2011

  • His breath was weak and thready, and a lump was beginning to swell oddly on the back of his head.

    Rogue Oracle 2011

  • Baby Mouse dolls with big button eyes, thready whiskers, twisty pink tails, big baby feet.

    BABY MOUSE 2010

  • The only time Mary slept in the same bed as me anymore was when we'd made love and afterward held one another tightly, a quiet wish for the injuries to stop tying knots in whatever last thready bond remained between us.

    Old Scars 2010

  • His hand trembled as he touched the side of her throat, where a thready pulse fluttered.

    Captured by Moonlight Nancy Gideon 2010

  • But there are a few signs of a new economic heartbeat, albeit thready and fragile.

    Life Amid The Ruins: Gazans Still Feel Under Siege 2010

  • But there are a few signs of a new economic heartbeat, albeit thready and fragile.

    Life Amid The Ruins: Gazans Still Feel Under Siege 2010

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