nimble

adjective

nim·ble ˈnim-bəl

nimbler ˈnim-b(ə-)lər

; nimblest ˈnim-b(ə-)ləst

Synonyms of nimble next

: quick and light in motion : agile

nimble fingers

a nimble climber

: marked by quick, alert, clever conception (see conception sense 3), comprehension (see comprehension sense 1a), or resourcefulness

a nimble mind

nimble investors

: responsive, sensitive

a nimble listener

nothing like playacting to make you nimble in your feelings—

Mary Austin

nimbleness

ˈnim-bəl-nəs

noun

nimbly

ˈnim-blē

adverb

Examples of nimble in a Sentence

possessing a nimble wit, he always has a cutting comeback for any intended insult thrown his way her nimble fingers make knitting look so easy

Recent Examples on the Web Then Gill steps in with an instantly identifiable solo, nimble and warm in tone. —

Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2023 Western leaders — who have pushed for a stronger rebuke of Russia’s actions in past G20 meetings — still called the consensus a success, and praised India’s nimble balancing act. —

Krutika Pathi and Adam Schreck, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Sep. 2023 Even when injured, Patrick Mahomes is more nimble than most. —

Jen Murphy, WSJ, 9 Sep. 2023 Then again, all Bronco Sports prove nimble in the forest primeval, as the Bronco Sport is 7.8 inches shorter than the Escape, allowing for approach and departure angles of 30.4 degrees and 33.1 degrees respectively. —

cleveland, 2 Sep. 2023 Donkin’s debut album Welcome Home, which is out Friday (Aug. 24) on the young label drink sum wtr, is grounded in immaculate R&B from the late 1970s and early 1980s — delicate falsetto, giddily elaborate vocal harmonies, opulent keyboards, nimble bass lines. —

Elias Leight, Billboard, 21 Aug. 2023 Each ship was 314 feet long and 32 feet wide, nimble and powerful enough to target German submarines during the First World War. —

Longreads, 5 Sep. 2023 The Saint-Saëns was thoroughly marvelous, with nimble and limber cascades of sound pouring out of the piano. —

Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 21 Aug. 2023 Being nimble and flexible also means having the ability to identify opportunities and being in a position to seize them. —

Tasnim Ghiawadwala, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nimble.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English nemel, nymyl, nemyll "agile, quick, capable, apt," probably going back to a by-form of later Old English numul, numol, næmel (once) "quick to grasp," from num-, *nǣm-, ablaut forms of niman (class IV strong verb) "to take, get hold of" + -ol, deverbal adjective suffix; niman going back to Germanic *neman- "to take" (whence also Old Frisian nima, nema "to take, appropriate, seize," Old Saxon niman "to take [off], get, accept," Middle Dutch nemen "to take, keep," Old High German neman "to take, seize," Old Icelandic nema "to take, get," Gothic niman "to take away, receive, accept"), perhaps going back to an Indo-European verbal base *nem- "apportion, distribute," whence also Greek némō, némein "to graze, pasture (animals), have management or control of, rule, direct, distribute, apportion, assign, give," (middle voice) némomai, némesthai "to feed on, occupy, inhabit, enjoy" and perhaps as a nominal derivative Latin numerus "numerical sum or symbol, quantity, aggregate" (< *nomeso-)

Note: The suffix of Old English numul, etc., is presumably the same as in swicol "deceitful" (compare swician "to deceive, cheat") and forewitol "knowing in advance" (compare witan "to know"). — The Germanic verb *neman- "to take" appears to mean the opposite of Greek némein, one of whose many senses is "to give," though the meaning usually taken to be primary is "to distribute, apportion." However, as illustrated by the multiple senses of Gothic niman, taking can also imply receiving and accepting. Hypothetically, the middle voice forms of Greek némein might be expected to mean "receive (what has been assigned or distributed)," though the attested meaning is "feed on, inhabit, enjoy," as indicated in the etymology. E. Benveniste pointed to the use of Gothic arbinumja "heir" (literally, "one receiving the inheritance," with -numja a derivative of niman) as a translation of Greek klēronómos, with the agentive element -nomos being a derivative, with o-grade ablaut, of némein (see Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes, tome 1 [Paris, 1969], pp. 81-86). A variety of other formations have been taken as derivatives of Indo-European *nem- in addition to Latin numerus: Sanskrit námaḥ "reverence, respect, respectful greeting," Avestan nəmah- "reverence, obeisance, loan" (though these are at least as likely from *nem- "bow," as in Sanskrit námati "[s/he] bends, bows"); Greek némos "grove, thicket, pasture," Latin nemus "wood, forest, sacred grove," Old Irish nemed "sacred place, sanctuary" (< "what has been apportioned, sacrifice"?); Lithuanian núoma "rent, lease," Latvian noma (nuõma). An older hypothesis, recently revived, connects Germanic *neman- with Indo-European *h₁em- "take" (see redeem). G. Kroonen hypothesizes that *neman- grew out of a prefixed verb *gam-eman (in Indo-European terms *kom-h₁em-e-), altered by dissimilation to *gan-eman- and then reanalyzed as *ga-neman-, with *ga- taken as the perfective prefix ga- (Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic [Brill, 2013], following a suggestion by F. Kortlandt in "The Germanic Fifth Class of Strong Verbs," NOWELE, vol. 19, no. 1 [1992], p. 104). See discussion in R. Lühr et al., Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Band 6, pp. 878-81; the editors reject the Kortlandt-Kroonen hypothesis. For further derivatives of Greek némein see nomad, nomogram, nomothetic, -nomy.