• IPA: /ˈθɪn/

thin (comparative thinner, superlative thinnest)

1. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.

   thin plate of metal;  thin paper;  thin board;  thin covering

   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 7, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473 ↗:

     Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Snowball who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the walls were too thin.

2. Very narrow in all diameters; having a cross section that is small in all directions.

   thin wire;  thin string

3. Having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender; lean; gaunt.

   thin person

4. Of low viscosity or low specific gravity.

   Water is thinner than honey.

5. Scarce; not close, crowded, or numerous; not filling the space.

   The trees of a forest are thin; the corn or grass is thin.

   • 1705 (revised 1718), Joseph Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy

     Ferrara is very large, but extremely thin of people.

6. (golf) Describing a poorly played golf shot where the ball is struck by the bottom part of the club head. See fat, shank, toe.
7. Lacking body or volume; small; feeble; not full.

   • thin, hollow sounds, and lamentable screams

8. Slight; small; slender; flimsy; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering.

   a thin disguise

• (having little thickness from one surface to its opposite) narrow; see also Thesaurus:narrow
• (very narrow in all diameters) fine
• (having little body fat or flesh) reedy, skinny, slender, slim, svelte, waifish; see also Thesaurus:slender or Thesaurus:scrawny
• (of low viscosity) runny, watery; see also Thesaurus:runny
• (not close or crowded) spaced out, sparse; see also Thesaurus:diffuse
• (not numerous) scant, scarce, slight

• thick

• French: mince
• German: dünn
• Italian: sottile, fine
• Portuguese: fino
• Russian: то́нкий
• Spanish: fino

• French: mince
• German: dünn
• Italian: sottile
• Portuguese: fino (of objects), ralo (as of hair)
• Russian: то́нкий

• French: maigre
• German: dünn, schlank
• Italian: magro, sottile, emaciato, consunto
• Portuguese: magro (of people or animals), tênue (slender), delgado
• Russian: худо́й
• Spanish: flaco, delgado

• French: liquide
• German: dünn
• Portuguese: tênue
• Russian: жи́дкий
• Spanish: ralo

• German: schütter, dünn, licht, spärlich
• Portuguese: esparso
• Russian: ре́дкий

thin (plural thins)

1. (philately) A loss or tearing of paper from the back of a stamp, although not sufficient to create a complete hole.
2. Any food produced or served in thin slices.

   chocolate mint thins

   potato thins

thin (thins, present participle thinning; past and past participle thinned)

1. (transitive) To make thin or thinner.
2. (intransitive) To become thin or thinner.

   The crowds thinned after the procession had passed: there was nothing more to see.

3. To dilute.
4. To remove some plants or parts of plants in order to improve the growth of what remains.

• Portuguese: afinar, adelgaçar, afilar
• Spanish: adelgazar

• Portuguese: afinar, adelgaçar
• Spanish: adelgazar

• Portuguese: diluir
• Spanish: diluir

• Spanish: entresacar

thin

1. Not thickly or closely; in a scattered state.

   seed sown thin

   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     Spain is a nation thin sown of people.