gracile
English
Alternative forms
- gracilent
Etymology
From Latin gracilis (“slender”). In the “graceful” sense, apparently influenced by the non-cognate word grace.
Adjective
gracile (comparative more gracile, superlative most gracile)
- Slender; thin; lean.
- 1853, Works of Walter Savage Landor:
- Unswathe his Egyptian mummy; and […] you disclose the grave features and gracile bones of […] a cat
- 1971, Oxford English Dictionary#Compact_editions:
- Gracile ... By some recent writers misused (through association with grace) for "Gracefully slender":
- 2005, Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale:
- They seem to have evolved from more ‘gracile’ apes (gracile being the opposite of robust).
- 2009, Clive Finlayson, Neanderthals and Modern Humans:
- A more gracile morphology would have been far more efficient over larger areas.
- 1853, Works of Walter Savage Landor:
- Graceful or gracefully slender.
Translations
Slender; thin; lean
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡʁa.sil/
Further reading
- “gracile” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Italian
Related terms
Latin
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