Definitions

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

  • adjective Relatively small in extent from one surface to the opposite, usually in the smallest solid dimension.
  • adjective Not great in diameter or cross section; fine.
  • adjective Having little bodily flesh or fat; lean or slender.
  • adjective Not dense or concentrated; sparse.
  • adjective More rarefied than normal.
  • adjective Flowing with relative ease; not viscous.
  • adjective Watery.
  • adjective Sparsely supplied or provided; scanty.
  • adjective Having a low number of transactions.
  • adjective Lacking force or substance; flimsy.
  • adjective Lacking resonance or fullness; tinny.
  • adjective Lacking radiance or intensity.
  • adjective Not having enough photographic density or contrast to make satisfactory prints. Used of a negative.
  • adverb In a thin manner.
  • adverb So as to be thin.
  • transitive & intransitive verb To make or become thin or thinner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A Middle English form of thine.
  • Very narrow in all diameters; slender; slim; long and fine: as, a thin wire; a thin string.
  • Very narrow in one diameter; having the opposite surfaces very near together; having little thickness or depth; not thick; not heavy: as, thin paper; thin boards: opposed to thick.
  • Having the constituent parts loose or sparse in arrangement; lacking density, compactness, or luxuriance; rare; specifically, of the air and other gases, rarefied.
  • Hence, easily seen through; transparent, literally or figuratively; shallow; flimsy; slight: as, a thin disguise.
  • Having slight consistency or viscosity: said of liquids: as, thin syrup; thin gruel.
  • Deficient in some characteristic or important ingredient; lacking strength or richness; specifically, of liquors, small: opposed to strong.
  • Of sound, lacking in fullness; faint, and often somewhat shrill or metallic in tone.
  • Limited in power or capacity; feeble; weak.
  • Meager; lean; spare; not plump or fat.
  • Limited in quantity or number; small or infrequent; scanty.
  • Scantily occupied or furnished; bare; empty: used absolutely or with of.
  • Having no depth: said of a school of fish.
  • Having insufficient density or contrast to give a good photographic print or a satisfactory image on the screen; weak: said of a negative or a lantern-slide.
  • To make thin.
  • To make less dense or compact; make sparse; specifically, to rarefy, as a gas.
  • To reduce in consistency or viscosity: said of liquids: as, to thin starch.
  • To reduce in strength or richness: as, to thin the blood.
  • To make lean or spare.
  • To reduce in numbers or frequency.
  • To make bare or empty.
  • To become thin.
  • Thinly.
  • 14. In art, characterized, in composition, by few and widely separated elements, by absence of serious interest, or by lack of body and force in technique.

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

  • adverb Not thickly or closely; in a seattered state.
  • transitive verb To make thin (in any of the senses of the adjective).
  • intransitive verb To grow or become thin; -- used with some adverbs, as out, away, etc..
  • adjective Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite
  • adjective Rare; not dense or thick; -- applied to fluids or soft mixtures.
  • adjective Not close; not crowded; not filling the space; not having the individuals of which the thing is composed in a close or compact state; hence, not abundant

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old English thynne; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English thin, thinne, from Old English þynne, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz (“thin”), (compare Proto-Germanic *þanjanan (“to stretch, spread out”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *tenw(ə)- (“to pull, stretch”).

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Examples

  • To stay with someone or something “through thick and thin” is to persevere through good times as well as bad: “She stood beside her friend through thick and thin.

    through thick and thin 2002

  • I disagree with the term thin privilege see the posts I linked to for a fuller argument of why, but I really disagree with using it in this case.

    Looking Professional 2007

  • If the sunlight is intense and the label thin, some starch will appear under it.

    The First Book of Farming Charles Landon Goodrich

  • Because of this, the industry has been trying what they call thin film solar cells.

    Two Game Changers In Clean Tech 2010

  • Because of this, the industry has been trying what they call thin film solar cells.

    Two Game Changers In Clean Tech 2010

  • That what she call the thin wood that stick out at the bottom of the wall.

    Finding Dignity J. Marie Darden 2005

  • That what she call the thin wood that stick out at the bottom of the wall.

    Finding Dignity J. Marie Darden 2005

  • It's largely home to weak, artificial connections, what I call thin relationships.

    Die besten Nachrichten von heute 2010

  • Weaver also said the rope, which he described as thin like a clothes line, was wrapped around the high branches of two different trees as if for leverage.

    Information Liberation 2009

  • Weaver also said the rope, which he described as thin like a clothes line, was wrapped around the high branches of two different trees as if for leverage.

    unknown title 2009

Comments

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  • A warning against thinning paints:

    Michelangelo was painting the roof of the Sistine Chapel. However, he was being rather cheap and thinning his paints to save money. Suddenly, a big storm came and somehow rain got inside the Chapel and washed the ceiling and the walls of the paint, leaving them sparkling clean. A lightning bolt shot out of the clouds and knocked Michaelangelo off his ladder to the floor. He looked up and saw God... God said, "Repaint, repaint, and thin no more."

    You may have heard it before, or maybe not...but I think it's hilarious.

    February 16, 2010

  • *snort*

    February 16, 2010