wasp waist

noun

: a very slender waist
wasp-waisted adjective

Examples of wasp waist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web No, not the archetypically feminine wasp waist, full-skirted New Look founder Christian Dior made famous (although graphic bike shorts and matching jerseys spelled it out in block print). Alison S. Cohn, Harper's BAZAAR, 10 Jan. 2022 Bright yellow stripes, with that narrow wasp waist, and a smooth, furless body. Bethany Brookshire, Good Housekeeping, 18 June 2022 Gucci and Balenciaga logos were splashed across monogram outerwear and boulder shoulder, wasp waist suiting—clearly Demna's influence. Alison S. Cohn, Harper's BAZAAR, 15 Apr. 2021 The California Gold Rush was responsible for turning the wasp waist of the Americas into a crazily congested thoroughfare. Gary Kamiya, SFChronicle.com, 2 Oct. 2020 Ideals of female beauty that can only be met through painful processes of physical manipulation have always been with us, from tiny feet in imperial China to wasp waists in nineteenth-century Europe. Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2019 Enamored, ladies followed Hepburn’s lead, penciling in their eyebrows with points and cinching their middles to imitate the former ballerina’s wasp waist. Alice Bell, Vogue, 12 Mar. 2018 Another is looking for historical inspiration—1950s-style wasp waists or 80s-era padded shoulders. Emily Matchar, Smithsonian, 4 May 2018

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

Word History

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of wasp waist was in 1833

Dictionary Entries Near wasp waist

Cite this Entry

“Wasp waist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wasp%20waist. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

wasp waist

noun
: a very slender waist
wasp-waisted
ˈwäsp-ˈwā-stəd
ˈwȯsp-
adjective
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!