English Dictionary |
LANKY (lankier, lankiest)
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does lanky mean?
• LANKY (adjective)
The adjective LANKY has 2 senses:
1. tall and thin and having long slender limbs
Familiarity information: LANKY used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Declension: comparative and superlative |
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:
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 |
"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)