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Synonyms

spindly

American  
[spind-lee] / ˈspɪnd li /

adjective

spindlier, spindliest

  1. long or tall, thin, and usually frail.

    The colt wobbled on its spindly legs.
spindly British  
/ ˈspɪndlɪ /

adjective

  1. tall, slender, and frail; attenuated

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of spindly

First recorded in 1645–55; spindle + -y 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He staggered sideways on his spindly legs, tripped over his own foot, and fell full-length into the crick.

From Literature

But when his arms had turned to water and he could chop no more, he saw with alarm that he’d only managed to cut down two spindly birch saplings and a puny little spruce.

From Literature

A two-reel camera on spindly legs was planted in the middle of the street.

From Literature

Anyhow, there he was, standing on his spindly legs, staring at those big red apples.

From Literature

And it wasn’t lost on Rove that the spindly, excitable man narrating that story for them in a thick Hungarian accent “was once a 16-year-old picking up paving blocks and heaving them at Soviet tanks.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.