slight
[sl̥ɐɪt]
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.22 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Still; with little or no movement on the surface.
Example 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."
- "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,[…]."
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: slight, sliht, *slihtaz
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [sl̥ɐɪt]