thinly
/ˈθɪnli
/adverb
1In a way that creates a thin piece or layer of something: thinly sliced potatoes thinly spread mustard over the meat a board covered thinly with flour...
- Thinly applied paint dries in a matter of minutes.
- Geometric shapes in variegated colors form the center of a crude cross enclosed in a thinly outlined yellow circle.
- I can't see the fire but smoke hangs thinly everywhere, especially around the lights.
2With little flesh or fat on the body: he was tall and thinly built...
- One man is around 6 feet tall and thinly built.
- He was fair haired and brown eyed, thinly built and only an inch or so taller than his sister.
- The boy was no more than 18 and thinly built.
3With few parts or people relative to the area covered or filled; sparsely: resources are stretched thinly people were thinly spread throughout the square his thinly attended campaign launch...
- The sterility of the suburban environment gives way to the arid, thinly populated desert.
- Several thousand people were in the vicinity, thinly dispersed over the immense terrain.
- Linguistically, Norway is a curious country, with only about four and a half million inhabitants scattered thinly along its huge length.
4In a way that lacks strength, substance, or quality; weakly: the sun shines only thinly through a veil of water a mishmash of thinly sketched characters a thinly disguised autobiographical novel...
- At least there aren't any obvious product placements or thinly veiled morality lessons.
- The film is set during the 1930s, at an unnamed school, a thinly disguised version of Eton.
- She never seems to find her character, which isn't surprising, considering how thinly it is written.
4.1In a weak and forced manner: the doctor smiled thinly...
- He looked up as we entered and smiled thinly.
- A rather snooty guy examined our premiere tickets, and then he smiled thinly and let us go in.
- "Why not launch a heavy metal competition show?" The head of entertainment laughs thinly at this.