Have you ever been confused by the definition of svelte? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word svelte, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!
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According to Collins English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the word svelte is an adjective that means having a slender build or urbane tone, such as showing a high degree of refinement and assurance that may come from wide social experience. Many things can be svelte, from a person to a bike to a svelte look.
There are many different languages that use words that mean svelte. You may notice that sometimes different languages have words that are very close to English words or to words of other languages. This is usually because the words share a root or origin. Often, cognates, which are words that look, sound, and mean something similar across languages, are formed when words share an origin. This list of translations for the word svelte is provided by Word Sense.
According to Etymonline, the word svelte has been used since c19 and comes from the French svelte and Italian svelto. These come from the Latin past participle of svellere meaning to pluck, pull or stretch out and the Vulgar Latin exvellere/Latin ēvellere/exvellitus. This uses the variant stem of vellere from the Latin ēvulsus and velli. The past participle of ēvellere comes from the Latin ex and the root vellere, from the Proto-Indo-European toos wel-no and uelh. These are also the source of the Hittite ualh and Greek aliskomai.
What are synonyms and antonyms of svelte?
There are a variety of equivalent words that one can use in place of the word svelte. These are called synonyms, which are words and phrases that have the same or a similar meaning as another word or phrase. Synonyms are useful to know if you are trying to expand your vocabulary as well as if you are trying to avoid repeating yourself. This list of synonyms for the word svelte is provided by Power Thesaurus.
slightly built
no fat
snake-hipped
flimsy
fragile
undernourished
size-zero
anorectic
rawboned
nimble
ultrathin
underweight
polished
anorexic
emaciated
frail
rangy
sinuous
like a bag of bones
scraggy
thin
weak
graceful
slight
slimmest
fatless
pinched
all skin and bones
pliant
sylphlike
slim
stringy
trimmer
slightest
agile
macilent
twiggy
trim
bony
gracile
thinner
supple
wasted
weedy
skeletal
slimmer
attenuated
delicate
gangly
narrow
looking like a bag of bones
slinky
underfed
limber
as thin as a reed
attenuate
wiry
hollow-cheeked
small
willowy
lithe
elegant
smooth
angular
boney
spindly
tenuous
refined
light
urbane
skinny
bare
slighter
gaunt
spindle-shanked
lithesome
sinewy
lissom
sleek
sophisticated
as thin as a rake
lissome
cadaverous
lanky
scrawny
cultivated
slender
spindling
little
clean-limbed
skin-and-bones
gangling
thinnest
beanpole
meager
lank
lean
flexible
spare
There are also numerous words and phrases that are antonyms for the word svelte. Antonyms are words and phrases that have the opposite meaning as another word or phrase. Opposite words are helpful to know if you are trying to expand your knowledge of the English language. This list of antonyms is provided by Power Thesaurus as well.
overweight
heavy
heavyset
potbellied
stocky
husky
nourished
force-fed
girthy
falstaffian
made fat
in good condition
made a meal for
hippy
healthy
morbidly obese
fattened up
boarded
distended
fed
like a beached whale
burly
graceless
kept alive
outsized
overfed
made fatter
mesomorphic
corn-fed
cobby
catered
gave food to
cooked for
of ample build
heavily built
fubsy
nuggety
given food to
elephantine
filled
gargantuan
crammed
prepared food for
fattish
catered for
provided food for
feed
flourishing
fed up
fattened
dished out
built up
thickset
flabby
bulky
obese
gross
hulking
dumpy
full
podgy
brawny
solid
abdominous
ample
rotund
pudgy
stubby
corpulent
chunky
roly-poly
of ample proportions
awkward
fat
thick
tubby
fleshy
plump
poddy
stout
broad in the beam
beefy
pursy
pot-bellied
naive
beer-bellied
muscular
porky
meaty
paunchy
bloated
portly
hefty
blubbery
large
chubby
buxom
How can the word svelte be used in a sentence?
The word svelte can be used in many different sentences in the English language. Using words in a sentence is a great way to memorize their definitions. You can also try making quizzes for yourself or testing yourself with flashcards. Try using this word of the day in a sentence today! Below are several examples of svelte.
The slim girl with straight blonde hair had a slight figure and a svelte outline. While in her studies at Princeton University, a modeling agent named Frank Norris hired her to be one of the Willow headphone models for the Willow shoot.
The svelte hitchhiker would do anything for a typical class B camper, svelte RV, or any other long-preferred modes of transit. He usually cared about greenhouse-gas emissions, but he didn’t care if he came upon a Prius or something that guzzled a gallon of gas a minute – he just wanted to get home.
The big gaming headsets looked ridiculous next to the svelte ingenuity of the earphones. They worked just as well but didn’t need inputs from external sources to function.
The fifth edition of the book was much more svelte than the last since they had to cut out a lot of the copyright content they were attacked for.
Overall, the word svelte means thin or slender. This word is Latin in origin.
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.