spindling
Growing tall, weak
Spindling describes something thin, elongated, and weak-looking—like a spindle.
Plants that grow toward inadequate light become spindling, all stem and no substance.
The word applies to people too: a spindling teenager who hadn't yet grown into his height.
It suggests fragility, as if the thing might snap under pressure.
Tall, slim, pliant
- lankyTall and ungainly thin
- ganglyAwkwardly tall and thin
- reedyThin and high-pitched
- wiryThin and muscular
stringy · beanpole · twiggy · scraggly · attenuated · threadlike · scrawny · weedy
Pale from light deprivation
- leggyHaving lengthy limbs
- stretchedPulled to lengthen
- overgrownExcessively covered in vegetation
- paleLacking color intensity
blanched · stunted · straggly · seedling · shoot · sprout · stem · stalk
willowy
Tall, slim, pliant
wiry · stringy · beanpole · twiggy · scraggly · attenuated · threadlike · scrawny · weedy · rangy
etiolated
Pale from light deprivation
pale · blanched · stunted · straggly · seedling · shoot · sprout · stem · stalk · tendril
bobbin
Small cylindrical thread holder
delicate
Easily broken or harmed
rickety · wobbly · unsteady · flimsy · tenuous · insubstantial · brittle · shaky · tottering · precarious