as in gaunt
being tall, thin and usually loose-jointed
spindly, underfed dogs roamed the poverty-stricken village
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of spindly
Ringed by mountains and a bald expanse of Arizona desert, red and yellow cranes cast spindly shadows over the cubic skeletons of what will become multistory buildings.
—
Laura Gersony, The Arizona Republic, 14 Oct. 2024
Try a bottle of La Tomato ($19.95, though quite a bit more with shipping), from the Japanese distillery Godo Shusei Co, an ice-clear concoction made with fresh tomato juice; its vegetal sweetness will sing when poured into spindly, garden-green cordial glasses from Ferm Living ($69 for four).
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2024
The brilliant multidisciplinary artist and her husband, Bill Miller, a former vice president at Morgan Stanley, were holding court at a spindly cocktail table.
—Helen Holmes, ARTnews.com, 19 Nov. 2024
Both have spindly legs, two working rotary knobs on the front for volume and channels and a power button on top.
—Simon Hill, WIRED, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for spindly 
Laura Gersony, The Arizona Republic, 14 Oct. 2024
Try a bottle of La Tomato ($19.95, though quite a bit more with shipping), from the Japanese distillery Godo Shusei Co, an ice-clear concoction made with fresh tomato juice; its vegetal sweetness will sing when poured into spindly, garden-green cordial glasses from Ferm Living ($69 for four).
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2024
The brilliant multidisciplinary artist and her husband, Bill Miller, a former vice president at Morgan Stanley, were holding court at a spindly cocktail table.
—Helen Holmes, ARTnews.com, 19 Nov. 2024
Both have spindly legs, two working rotary knobs on the front for volume and channels and a power button on top.
—Simon Hill, WIRED, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for spindly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spindly
Adjective
-
The face that looked back at her in the rearview mirror was gaunt, her skin pale around glassy hazel eyes.—
Glenn E. Rice,
Kansas City Star,
7 Jan. 2025
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Gone is the gaunt, skeletal vampire of the 1922 film, replaced by a larger, more intimidating, master of the undead with a mustache and deep voice.—
Scott Phillips,
Forbes,
23 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Something is wrong when a police officer who threatened to kill my son comes to my home and, without hesitating, without negotiating with a sick, skinny 21-year-old in crisis, carries out his threat and shoots my son five times.—
Carol Marbin Miller,
Miami Herald,
26 Jan. 2025
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The woman walked past, shuffling her skinny legs with determination.—
Samanta Schweblin,
The New Yorker,
26 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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In the video, a lanky kid is smoothly fielding balls on a dirt infield, then throwing hard strikes from the mound, and then lacing line drives from the left-handed batter’s box.—
Dan Freedman,
Forbes,
17 Jan. 2025
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Their common name is derived from their prehensile tails, some as long as three feet, which the animals use along with their disproportionately lanky limbs to grasp branches and other objects.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Mother Nature removes this thin coating of cement/lime paste over time, exposing the sand color to your eyes.—
Tim Carter,
Hartford Courant,
25 Jan. 2025
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The Verge’s Allison Johnson joins David and Nilay to talk about the vibes at Unpacked, where the thinner S25 Edge inspired raucous enthusiasm, and where Samsung tried to make the case that AI will make your phone better even if there’s not much new hardware to speak of.—
David Pierce,
The Verge,
24 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Lift your hips off the ground and place a block underneath your sacrum, the widest, boniest part of your pelvis.—
Cory Martin,
Verywell Health,
16 Oct. 2024
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Differences in Adult Bones That being said, some adults are bonier than others.—
Sam Walters,
Discover Magazine,
3 Nov. 2023
Adjective
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Bringing a skittish, awkward energy that contrasted with Letterman’s deadpan persona, O’Brien constantly made fun of his own gangly appearance and inappropriateness for the job.—
Ashraf Khalil,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Jan. 2025
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The stars here, however, are the gangly, majestic pink flamingos feeding in estuary grasses.—
Alex Crevar,
New York Times,
11 July 2024
Adjective
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Physically strong for his tender age and slender frame, Yalcouye demonstrated a strong defensive mindset, excelling as a ball-winning midfielder.—
Andy Naylor,
The Athletic,
21 Jan. 2025
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No matter the quality of what exists of the film today, piercing through the celluloid is the indelible creepy image of Schreck and his slender 6-foot 3-inch frame as Orlok.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes,
24 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near spindly
Cite this Entry
“Spindly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spindly. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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