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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

slight.

Minor; small in amount

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/slaɪt/[slɑjt]British, Southern, Standard[sl̥ɐɪt]Canada, US[sl̥əɪ̯t]Canada, US
  1. Minor; small in amount

  2. Minor; small in amount Gentle or weak, not aggressive or powerful.

    give it a slight kick
    a slight hint of cinnamon
  3. Minor; small in amount Not thorough; superficial.

    make a slight examination
  4. Minor; small in amount Trifling; unimportant; insignificant.

    we made a slight mistake
    a slight pain
  5. Minor; small in amount Not far away in space or time.

    archaic · rare
    in the slight future
  6. Of slender build.

    a slight but graceful woman
  7. Even, smooth or level.

    regional
    A slight stone
  8. Still; with little or no movement on the surface.

    especially
    The sea was slight and calm
  9. Foolish; silly; not intellectual.

    obsolete
  10. Bad, of poor quality.

    obsolete · regional
  11. Slighting; treating with disdain.

    dated
Where this word comes from

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”).

verb/slaɪt/[slɑjt]British, Southern, Standard[sl̥ɐɪt]Canada, US[sl̥əɪ̯t]Canada, US
  1. To treat as unimportant or not worthy of attention; to make light of.

    transitive
  2. To give lesser weight or importance to.

    transitive
  3. 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
  4. To act negligently or carelessly.

    intransitive
  5. To render no longer defensible by full or partial demolition.

    transitive
  6. To make even or level.

    obsolete · transitive
  7. To throw heedlessly.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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”).

noun/slaɪt/[slɑjt]British, Southern, Standard[sl̥ɐɪt]Canada, US[sl̥əɪ̯t]Canada, US
  1. The act of ignoring or snubbing; a deliberate act of neglect or discourtesy.

  2. Sleight.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.