Did you know?
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
Alexandra Hildreth, Vogue, 4 May 2026
Vato’s tiny storefront is austere and modern, an aesthetic that extends to the burritos themselves, which are long, lithe roll-ups with a sort of gamine appeal, svelte as a Virginia Slim.
—Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 3 May 2026
There are something close to 50 of To’s movies to choose from, and all of them have a wonderful visual liveliness — plus a compelling, svelte sense of place that lives at a particularly fun intersection between the worlds of Akira Kurosawa and Jean-Pierre Melville.
—Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 24 Apr. 2026
Off the primary bedroom is a svelte second bedroom that could work as a home office or nursery.
—Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 13 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for svelte
Cite this Entry
“Svelte.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/svelte. Accessed 11 May. 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"
