Adjective: slight
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
| Comparative | slighter |
| Superlative | slightest |
Perifrastic
Sample Sentences
-
The forecast calls for a slight warming trend in the coming days, with sunny skies and daytime temperatures reaching the midteens on Sunday and Monday, when the men will hit the snowboard course. [2022 February 4, John Branch, “U.S. snowboarder Jamie Anderson qualifies for the slopestyle final.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2022:]
-
give it a slight kick
-
a slight hint of cinnamon
-
a slight effort
-
a slight (i.e. not convincing) argument
-
Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom,[…]. [1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:]
-
Even though there is slight quality variation between the long and short versions of Arabic vowels, the variation is rarely noticeable even by some phoneticians; hence, it does not amount to a source of even phonetic accent except for those learners of Arabic whose language has a strictly centrifugal vowel system such as Spanish, Italian, Tagalog, among others. [2014, Edward Y. Odisho, “Some Primary Sources of Accent Generation in the Pronunciation of Arabic by Native Speakers of English”, in Mediterranean Language Review, volume 21, →DOI, page 100 of 91–104:]
-
make a slight examination
-
we made a slight mistake
-
a slight pain
-
Some firmly embrace doctrines upon slight grounds. [1741, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education & of the Conduct of the Understanding:]
-
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise. [1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto I:]
-
in the slight future
-
a slight but graceful woman
-
his own figure, which was formerly so slight [1822, Sir Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak:]
-
But now, ten years later, after his recent shipwreck, he cannot compete as a runner, though he can outthrow the slighter Phaeacians with the heaviest discus. [2002, Eva Brann, Homeric Moments, page 48:]
-
A slight stone
-
The sea was slight and calm
-
But no beast ever was so slight,
-
For man, as for his god, to fight;
-
They have more wit, alas! and know
-
Themselves and us better than so. [1859, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Canto 1, lines 781-784:]
-
1889 (first published), George Washington, Writings
-
we frequently have slight Goods and sometimes old and unsaleable Articles
-
This slight way of treating both his book and his ancestors nettled little Puddock – who never himself took a liberty, and expected similar treatment – but he knew Sturk, the nature of the beast, and he only bowed grandly […] [1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:]
Adjectives inflected like slight
sallow,
smooth,
slight,
sleigh,
sordid,
somber,
shweet,
shrill,
shrewd,
yellow,
yaller,
hard knock,
DRY,
Greek,
cut short,
unquiet,
unclean,
indiscreet,
chipper,
straicht, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
From Middle English slight (“bad, of poor quality, unimportant, trivial, slender, slim, smooth, level”), from Old English sliht (“smooth, level”), from Proto-Germanic *slihtaz (“slippery, flat, level, plain”), related to English slick. Cognate with Scots slicht (“bad, of poor quality”), West Frisian sljocht (“smooth, level, plain, simple”), Dutch slecht (“bad”), Low German slecht (“bad”), German schlecht (“bad”) and schlicht (“plain, artless, natural”), Danish slet (“bad, evil, poor, nasty, wrong”), Swedish slät (“smooth”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk slett (“even”), Icelandic sléttur (“even, smooth, level”). See: English Adjectives '
slick', Dutch Adjectives '
slecht', German Adjectives '
schlecht', Swedish Adjectives '
slät'.
Verbs referencing "slight"
German Adjectives
schlecht, Italian Adjectives
schietto.