leggy

adjective

leg·​gy ˈle-gē 

also ˈlā-

leggier; leggiest

1

a

: having very long legs

In high school in Wareham, Mass., Davis ran track. She was tall, leggy and fast.

—Anamaria Wilson

The best time to view the cranes is 30 minutes before and after sunrise, just before they leave to feed for the morning. The leggy birds generally return to the wildlife area before noon, where they will remain for the rest of the day.

—States News Service

b

: having long and attractive legs

… the person with the answers is a leggy brunette dressed slickly in black.

—Leon Wieseltier

c

: having many legs

Later, when other specialists scoured the same small area in California looking for these millipedes, they came back empty-handed. Part of the problem is that the leggy creatures are hard to see.

—Emily Sohn

2

: having long shoots or stems with little foliage : spindly

Both plants are somewhat leggy and therefore a bit awkward on their own but look just fine in a crowd.

—Tom Peace

Mahonias and nandinas often get leggy and bare at the bottom as they mature.

—Fred C. Galle

Seedlings become "leggy" if they don't get enough light. … The stems will stretch and grow weak if they are too far from the lights.

—Rita Buchanan

—used of a plant

legginess

ˈle-gē-nəs 

also ˈlā-

noun

Examples of leggy in a Sentence

The bush has gotten leggy and needs to be pruned.

Recent Examples on the Web

If stems get leggy in the heat of summer, cutting them back can boost blooms. —Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 5 June 2026

These hardy native plants can become leggy or overly foliage-heavy when given too much supplemental fertilizer, especially nitrogen-rich fertilizer. —Cori Sears, The Spruce, 2 June 2026

Some early summer perennials are beginning to fade, spring-blooming shrubs may be finished flowering, and more fast-growing plants may be looking a bit leggy. —Helena Madden, Martha Stewart, 1 June 2026

Light is the single biggest factor in whether your plants thrive or get leggy and weak. —Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Kansas City Star, 27 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1776, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for leggy

• peggy
• regie

Kids Definition

leggy

adjective

leg·​gy ˈleg-ē 

1

: having unusually long legs

2

: having long and attractive legs

3

: spindly

a leggy plant