English Dictionary

LANKY (lankier, lankiest)

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

Irregular inflected forms: lankier  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation, lankiest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lanky mean? 

LANKY (adjective)
  The adjective LANKY has 2 senses:

1. tall and thin and having long slender limbsplay

2. tall and thinplay

  Familiarity information: LANKY used as an adjective is rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


LANKY (adjective)

 Declension: comparative and superlative 
Comparative: lankier  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Superlative: lankiest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Tall and thin and having long slender limbs

Synonyms:

gangling; gangly; lanky; rangy

Context example:

a lanky kid transformed almost overnight into a handsome young man

Similar:

tall (great in vertical dimension; high in stature)

Derivation:

lankiness (a tall and thin physique)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Tall and thin

Synonyms:

gangling; gangly; lanky

Similar:

lean; thin (lacking excess flesh)

Derivation:

lankiness (a tall and thin physique)


 Context examples 


It belongs to a group of dinosaurs known as the scansoriopterygids, which all contain lanky arms, but it's only the second fossil found in the group to contain the styliform bone.

(Second Bat-Like Dinosaur Discovered in China, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The young pugilist, who had a curious, lanky figure, and a craggy, bony face, passed his fingers through his close-cropped hair.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Why shrink, my honey-bird? Why so afeard, my sweet cinnamon?” exclaimed the other, a loose-jointed lanky youth with a dancing, roguish eye.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Money talks, bullshit walks." (English proverb)

"Most of us do not look as handsome to others as we do to ourselves." (Native American proverb, Assiniboine)

"If three people tell you that you are drunk, you better lie down." (American proverb)

"He who protects himself from cold also wards off heat." (Corsican proverb)



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