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
That extra-long body and those spindly fingers, the acid blood, and not just one mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, but two.
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2024
That’s because the twisty, spindly room centerpiece with large, pointy, deep green leaves is no ordinary tree.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2025
In a black-and-white photo that serves as Cyrus’ new profile picture on Instagram, the backlit singer poses in a spindly, avant-garde headpiece while staring directly at the camera — though her face is entirely blacked out by the high contrast of the artwork.
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 17 Mar. 2025
From one specimen’s spindly leg dangled a handwritten tag bearing the year of its death: 1917.
—Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for spindly
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2024
That’s because the twisty, spindly room centerpiece with large, pointy, deep green leaves is no ordinary tree.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2025
In a black-and-white photo that serves as Cyrus’ new profile picture on Instagram, the backlit singer poses in a spindly, avant-garde headpiece while staring directly at the camera — though her face is entirely blacked out by the high contrast of the artwork.
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 17 Mar. 2025
From one specimen’s spindly leg dangled a handwritten tag bearing the year of its death: 1917.
—Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for spindly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spindly
Adjective
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Tall and thin, bordering on gaunt, he was dressed in blue jeans, a flannel shirt, an old Army jacket, work boots, gloves and a blue wool cap.—
Alanna Nash,
Variety,
4 Mar. 2025
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And Palestinian prisoners — some of whom also emerged from Israeli jails appearing gaunt — also embraced loved ones.—
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The TikTok comments were replete with speculation that the friends may have even been skinny dipping—though Horton declined to confirm this.—
Gordon G. Chang,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Apr. 2025
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As an elder millennial, that meant skinny jeans — the hallmark of my generation.—
Kayla Kitts,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Cops recovered video of the lanky, mustachioed suspect following one of the attacks.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
4 Apr. 2025
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The physical comedy is top-tier — especially when Cumming leans into his lanky goofiness and Hodgson exaggerates Montagu's buffoonish nature.—
Shania Russell,
EW.com,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The water pressure then causes the vehicle to rise and slide on a thin layer of water between the tires and the road, making the driver lose control.—
STAR-TELEGRAM WEATHER BOT,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
20 Apr. 2025
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Ibrahim had black hair and looked thin from malnutrition.—
Clayton Dalton,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 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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Light pruning results in a gangly, unkempt plant by midsummer.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
10 Apr. 2025
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Nate leaps into action-hero mode, and the film’s mayhem blowouts include a multi-weapon melee in a restaurant kitchen, leaving our gangly hero horribly burned but quite chipper about it, since his adversary is less fortunate.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The three super skinny pen tips can go from creating impossibly slender, seemingly real brow strokes to a cluster of freckles across the cheeks much like a stamp.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
9 Apr. 2025
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But Cummings prefers to mail the slender tubes back to Crown Bees, which will care for them over the winter.—
Martha Ann Overland,
NPR,
6 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Spindly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spindly. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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