slight
adjective · verb · noun
Simple meaning
Gentle or weak, not aggressive or powerful.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
slytIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈslaɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Gentle or weak, not aggressive or powerful.
Minor; small in amount
Not thorough; superficial.
Trifling; unimportant; insignificant.
Of slender build.
especially said of the sea
Still; with little or no movement on the surface.
verb
transitive
To treat as unimportant or not worthy of attention; to make light of.
transitive
To treat (someone or something) with disdain or neglect, usually out of prejudice, hatred, or jealousy; to ignore disrespectfully; to skimp on one's duties toward.
transitive
To give lesser weight or importance to.
intransitive
To act negligently or carelessly.
transitive
To throw heedlessly.
noun
The act of ignoring or snubbing; a deliberate act of neglect or discourtesy.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Gentle or weak, not aggressive or powerful.
Used this way, slight is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use slight
- “There was a slight delay, but the train arrived eventually.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Such care as a careless or inattentive person would exercise.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.