skinny

adjective skin·ny \ ˈski-nē \

Updated on: 20 May 2018

Definition of skinny

skinnier; skinniest

1 : resembling skin : membranous

2 a : lacking sufficient flesh : very thin : emaciated

b : lacking usual or desirable bulk, quantity, qualities, or significance

3 of clothes : fitting very close to the body : very tight

skinny jeans

4 : made with skim milk

a skinny latte

—

skinniness

noun

See skinny defined for English-language learners

See skinny defined for kids

Examples of skinny in a Sentence

the tree swing was supported only by a couple of skinny branches
her grandmother was always insisting that she was too skinny and never tired of trying to force more food on her

Recent Examples of skinny from the Web

Wearing a denim Alexander McQueen jacket, black skinny jeans, a black tee and strappy sandals, and rocking her signature curly lob with bangs, Obama also cut a rug with R&B singers Ciara and Kelly Rowland at the celebration.

— michelle darrisaw, Essence.com, "This Video Of Michelle Obama Dancing With Jussie Smollett At College Signing Day Is The Break You Need From The News," 3 May 2018
Loki is pictured surrounded by four individuals who aren’t Thanos: From the left, that’s Proxima Midnight (the woman holding a spear), Ebony Maw (the skinny guy), Corvus (who’s holding a weapon), and the Black Dwarf (the giant).

— alex abad-santos, Vox, "Thanos, the villain of Avengers: Infinity War, explained," 19 Apr. 2018
The face of the skinny guy crowding the doughnuts is plain, brown.

— stephen a. crockett jr., The Root, "Fishbone," 4 Mar. 2018
Dressed simply in a Celine-esque coat (that turns out to be COS), a pair of skinny blue jeans and pointy-toed flats worn with black fishnet ankle socks, Andrei is a vision of an architect straight out of Nancy Meyers's imagination.

— sean santiago, ELLE Decor, "Design Ideas To Steal From New York's 11 Howard Hotel," 26 Apr. 2016
Prince Andrew's daughter went out for dinner at the Bluebird Café in Chelsea earlier this week, and while her affordable Zara coat and simple skinny jeans kept it casual, the enormous pink padparadscha sapphire attracted plenty of attention.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "Princess Eugenie Flashed Her Massive Engagement Ring While Out in London," 27 Apr. 2018
But to a skinny kid lacking in self-confidence, her declaration mattered.

— guest columnist/cleveland.com, cleveland.com, "Never underestimate the power of words: Ken Wood (Opinion)," 22 Apr. 2018
As the sun beat down, a group of skinny kids kicked soccer balls across a field of parched grass.

— kate linthicum, latimes.com, "These are the Central American migrants in Trump's crosshairs," 5 Apr. 2018
The upside of all that hard work was all the hours Alex had to hold the euphonium up while marching, which, for a skinny kid like him, meant developing strong biceps.

— gil kaufman, Billboard, "March for Our Lives: Father of Slain Student Alex Schachter Talks Launching Music Scholarship in Son's Name," 21 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'skinny.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of skinny

circa 1541

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

skinny Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of skinny

lean, spare, lank, lanky, gaunt, rawboned, scrawny, skinny mean thin because of an absence of excess flesh. lean stresses lack of fat and of curving contours.