Definition of "thin"

thin

/ˈθɪn/

adjective
comparative thinner, superlative thinnest
1. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.
  Quotations
  Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Snowball who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the walls were too thin.
  1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 7, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg
2. Very narrow in all diameters; having a cross section that is small in all directions.
3. Having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender; lean; gaunt.
4. Of low viscosity or low specific gravity.
5. Scarce; not close, crowded, or numerous; not filling the space.
  Quotations
  Ferrara is very large, but extremely thin of people.
  1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
6. (golf) Describing a poorly played golf shot where the ball is struck by the bottom part of the club head. See fat, shank, toe.
7. Lacking body or volume; small; feeble; not full.
  Quotations
  thin, hollow sounds, and lamentable screams
  1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], (please specify the page number)
8. Slight; small; slender; flimsy; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering.
9. (aviation) Of a route: relatively little used.
  Quotations
  In short, we previously found that thin routes benefit from an increase in competition in the Spanish airline market when considering routes that were monopoly routes in 2001.
  2016, Hartmut Wolf, Peter Forsyth, David Gillen, Liberalization in Aviation, page 105
10. Poor; scanty; without money or success.
  Quotations
  Like their friends the "draggers," the "hoisters" or shoplifters are having a thin time these days, […]
  1945, Jack Henry, What Price Crime?, page 92
noun
plural thins
1. (philately) A loss or tearing of paper from the back of a stamp, although not sufficient to create a complete hole.
2. Any food produced or served in thin slices.
verb
third-person singular simple present thins, present participle thinning, simple past and past participle thinned
1. (transitive) To make thin or thinner.
2. (intransitive) To become thin or thinner.
3. To dilute.
4. To remove some plants or parts of plants in order to improve the growth of what remains.
  Quotations
  So floriferous are Asian pears, and the tree so laden with young fruit, that as the tree approaches maturity it is worth considering thinning the fruit (I can't quite bring myself to thin the flowers) so as to neither overburden the tree for this year nor tire it for the next. Thinning early in the season, while the fruit is small, is ideal.
  2015 September 5, Mark Diacono, “In praise of the Asian pear”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎, archived from the original on 12 September 2015, page 3
adverb
comparative more thin, superlative most thin
1. Not thickly or closely; in a scattered state.
  Quotations
  Spain is a nation thin sown of people.
  a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a VVarre vvith Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany VVorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629

Definition of "thin"

thin

adjective

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noun

verb

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adverb

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