lanky
adjective
Synonyms
- gangling
- gangly
- rangy
- spindling
- spindly
Example Sentences
Tom Maccubbin, Orlando Sentinel, 27 Aug. 2022 Kelley Watt was there with Tony Mead, a lanky Florida man who had been an administrator of the now-defunct Sandy Hook Hoax Facebook group. Amanda J. Crawford, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Aug. 2022 The team’s ringleader was a lanky man named Pieter Cullis who had intended to become an experimental physicist, not a biochemist. New York Times, 15 Jan. 2022 With a lanky 6-foot frame, Eldridge was already the team’s top blocker last season and has been working on timing her attacks with setter Mason Kelly. Luca Evans, Los Angeles Times, 5 Aug. 2022 The lanky former Princeton basketball player instead takes a seat at the round conference table, ready to converse. Jori Epstein, USA TODAY, 22 July 2022 The fourth-rounder is a lanky 5-11, 175 with excellent quickness and aggressiveness. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 20 July 2022 Beneath a maple tree by a red brick elementary school in Brooklyn, a lanky, recognizable figure lingered on a recent morning, hoping to catch the attention of moms, dads, the grounds worker mowing the lawn. New York Times, 18 June 2022 Huntsman is lanky, with sharp blue eyes and a pair of fierce dachshunds. The New Yorker, 30 May 2022 See More Word History
circa 1818, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
lanky
adjective
lanky
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- gaunt
- skinny
- gangly
- gangling
- spindly
- rangy
- thin
- slender
- bony
- scrawny
- lean
- wiry
- lank
- spindling
- rawboned
- angular
- willowy
- scraggy
- weedy
- reedy
- boney
- slim
- stringy
- twiggy
- spidery
- waspish
- racy
- spare
- spindle-legged
- spindle-shanked
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- stocky
- pudgy
- chubby
- stubby
- heavyset
- stumpy
- beefy
- bulky
- thickset
- stout
- sturdy
- chunky
- squat
- weighty
- rotund
- corpulent
- plump
- portly
- tubby
- overweight
- fleshy
- obese
- fat
- muscle-bound
- full
- round
- gross
- roly-poly
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of lanky are gaunt, lank, lean, rawboned, scrawny, skinny, and spare. While all these words mean "thin because of an absence of excess flesh," lanky suggests awkwardness and loose-jointedness as well as thinness.
Although the words gaunt and lanky have much in common, gaunt implies marked thinness or emaciation as from overwork or suffering.
The synonyms lank and lanky are sometimes interchangeable, but lank implies tallness as well as leanness.
The words lean and lanky can be used in similar contexts, but lean stresses lack of fat and of curving contours.
While in some cases nearly identical to lanky, rawboned suggests a large ungainly build without implying undernourishment.
Both scrawny and skinny imply an extreme leanness that suggests deficient strength and vitality.
The meanings of spare and lanky largely overlap; however, spare suggests leanness from abstemious living or constant exercise.