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In Death on the Rocks, a 2013 mystery novel by Deryn Lake, the hero John Rawlings is described as having “svelte eyebrows” (he raises them also in 1995’s Death at the Beggar’s Opera). Lake’s oeuvre notwithstanding, svelte is not an adjective commonly applied to eyebrows, though it’s perfectly appropriate to do so—one of the word’s meanings is “sleek,” and it is often used to describe such disparate things as gowns and sports cars having clean lines. But “svelte eyebrows” also makes etymological sense; svelte came to English (by way of French) from the Italian adjective svelto, which itself comes from the verb svellere, meaning “to pluck out.” Since its debut in English in the early 19th century, however, svelte has more often been used with its original meaning to describe a person’s body—not just the tufts of hair above their eyes—as slender, graceful, or lithe.
Synonyms of svelte
Examples of svelte in a Sentence
Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2026
The sloping roofline and tapered sides give it a more svelte look over the larger EX90 while the rear features the latest iteration of the automaker’s vertical LED taillights that outline the tailgate.
—Joel Feder, The Drive, 21 Jan. 2026
In the realm of mouton, his innovation was to use only the most flexible skins, which gave his coats a svelter, more modern silhouette.
—Literary Hub, 20 Jan. 2026
AttoTude is planning essentially the same thing, but at terahertz frequencies and with a different kind of svelte, flexible cable.
—IEEE Spectrum, 27 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for svelte
Cite this Entry
“Svelte.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/svelte. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
from French svelte "slender, sleek," from Italian svelto (same meaning), derived from svellere "to pluck out," derived from Latin evellere "to pluck"
