thin

(thĭn)

adj. thin·ner, thin·nest

a. Relatively small in extent from one surface to the opposite, usually in the smallest solid dimension: a thin book.

b. Not great in diameter or cross section; fine: thin wire.

2. Having little bodily flesh or fat; lean or slender.

a. Not dense or concentrated; sparse: the thin vegetation of the plateau.

b. More rarefied than normal: thin air.

a. Flowing with relative ease; not viscous: a thin oil.

b. Watery: thin soup.

a. Sparsely supplied or provided; scanty: a thin menu.

b. Having a low number of transactions: thin trading in the stock market.

6. Lacking force or substance; flimsy: a thin attempt.

7. Lacking resonance or fullness; tinny: The piano had a thin sound.

8. Lacking radiance or intensity: thin light.

9. Not having enough photographic density or contrast to make satisfactory prints. Used of a negative.

adv.

1. In a thin manner: Spread the varnish thin if you don't want it to wrinkle.

2. So as to be thin: Cut the cheese thin.

tr. & intr.v. thinned, thin·ning, thins

To make or become thin or thinner.

[Middle English, from Old English thynne; see ten- in Indo-European roots.]

thin′ly adv.

thin′ness n.

thin′nish adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

thinned - mixed with water; "sold cut whiskey"; "a cup of thinned soup"

weakened, cut

dilute, diluted - reduced in strength or concentration or quality or purity; "diluted alcohol"; "a dilute solution"; "dilute acetic acid"

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

If we could but reach the ramparts we might find that the pirates somewhere had thinned the guarding forces and left a way open to us to the world without.

View in context

Twice the long hands of the clocks went round, Royalties thinned from their al fresco thrones, and buzzed or clattered away in their vehicles of state.

View in context

Thinning lettuce is particularly labor intensive, and most lettuce fields in California are hand-thinned (manually thinned).

Automated lettuce thinners reduce labor requirements and increase speed of thinning

Previously palms of Seewy date variety thinned by 30% removal of central strands significantly caused maximum increase in the fruit length and diameter as compared with the control and other thinning treatments (Moustafa 1997).

FRUIT QUALITY AND YIELD OF DATE PALM (Phoenix dactylifera L.) AS AFFECTED BY STRAND THINNING

Three replicating pairs of thinned and unthinned treatments (ca.

Influence of long-term thinning on the biomass carbon and soil respiration in a Larch (Larix gmelinii) forest in Northeastern China

Lynch invites us to compare costs of a fire like Encebado to the costs of a fire in a watershed that was previously thinned in the way we want to thin the Pot Creek watershed.

Healthy Forests, Happy Potters: an innovative federal project in New Mexico is reducing wildfire danger by thinning trees as it fuels local creativity

Their conclusion was based on a finding that one of the three dimethyl dialkylphosphate (DAP) metabolites of the organophosphorus (OP) pesticides--dimethylthiophosphate (DMTP)--was more frequently detected among children living in the same household with adult farmworkers who reported having thinned plants compared with children living in the same household with farmworkers who did not report thinning (92% vs.

Agricultural task not predictive of children's exposure to OP pesticides

Thus the debate has justifiably thinned as the U.S.

From eugenics to eugenics. (Books)

When he and his colleagues analyzed satellite measurement taken between 1992 and 1999, they found that large portions of the Pine Island Glacier thinned during that period.

Antartic glacier thins and speeds up

In particular, it is often seen that the harvest rows are over-planted and hand-thinned to a final stand to avoid differential stands among hybrids while border rows are not thinned and are often at a higher density than that of the harvest rows.

Thinning Border Rows Differentially Affects Hybrids in Corn Yield Trials