slightness
Quality of thinness
Slightness is the quality of being slight—small in size, degree, or importance.
It can describe physical delicacy: the slightness of her frame.
It also applies to insubstantiality: the slightness of the evidence, the slightness of the plot.
The word often carries a dismissive edge, suggesting something lacks the weight or substance expected.
Smallest amount needed
- scantBarely adequate amount
- meagerDeficient in quantity
- negligibleToo small to consider
- modestLacking in pretension
minute · tiny · infinitesimal · trace · hint · touch · dash · pinch
Easily broken or harmed
- frailWeak and breakable
- flimsyWeak and easily damaged
- tenuousLacking solid foundation
- brittleLiable to shatter
vulnerable · breakable · ephemeral · fleeting · perishable · frangible · insubstantial · precarious
Lacking significance or weight
- minorScale with lowered third
- unimportantLacking significance or weight
- inconsequentialLacking significance or impact
- negligibleToo small to consider
marginal · peripheral · trifling · petty · paltry · nominal · insubstantial · inconsiderable
Weak and indistinct
- gentleSoft and kind
- softYielding to touch
- mildModerate in intensity
- understatedDeliberately minimized in expression
nuanced · imperceptible · delicate · fine · refined · muted · subdued · restrained
minimal
Smallest amount needed
- scantBarely adequate amount
- meagerDeficient in quantity
- negligibleToo small to consider
modest · minute · tiny · infinitesimal · trace · hint · touch · dash · pinch · speck
delicate
Easily broken or harmed
brittle · vulnerable · breakable · ephemeral · fleeting · perishable · frangible · insubstantial · precarious · unstable
trivial
Lacking significance or weight
- minorScale with lowered third
- unimportantLacking significance or weight
- inconsequentialLacking significance or impact
negligible · marginal · peripheral · trifling · petty · paltry · nominal · insubstantial · inconsiderable · immaterial
slender
Thin and graceful
svelte · willowy · wispy · lanky · skinny · gaunt · scrawny · bony · spindly · skeletal
faint
Weak and indistinct
understated · nuanced · imperceptible · delicate · fine · refined · muted · subdued · restrained · modest
slightnessmagnitude
Size or scale
enormity · immensity · vastness · hugeness · enormousness
slightnessheftiness
State of being heavy
heaviness · bulkiness · massiveness · robustness · stockiness
slightnesssignificance
Quality of mattering
importance · magnitude · consequence · weightiness · gravity
slight, slightly, slightest, slighting, unsightly, slighted, sleight of hand, slighter, sleights