slight

SaySLYTUK/slaɪt/AUS/slɑɪt/

Adjectiveslighter, slightest

Verbslights, slighting, slighted

Noun pluralslights

19 meanings of slight

Practice

1
adjective
Trifling, unimportant, or insignificant; too minor to deserve serious attention or concern.
The merger will have only a slight effect on consumer prices.
Not the slightest doubt remained in her mind.
Similarinsignificant, minor, trivial, petty, negligible
Oppositesignificant, major, considerable, substantial
Note
The sense of trivial worth was already present in Middle English. It pairs naturally with words for reasons and evidence: Locke warns against embracing doctrines "upon slight grounds." It also works after the verb and can be moved to the front for effect, as in Pope's "Slight is the subject, but not so the praise," where a small subject is set against the large praise it earns.
2
adjective
Not thorough or complete; superficial, touching a subject only lightly rather than examining it carefully.
A slight reading of the contract missed several important clauses.
The inspector's slight examination of the bridge failed to catch the cracked beam.
Similarsuperficial
Oppositethorough, careful, detailed
3
adjective
Gentle or weak in force, rather than aggressive or powerful.
A slight current carried the canoe downstream.
His slight tap on the window was barely audible inside.
Similartiny, minor, negligible, meager
Oppositestrong, powerful, forceful
4
adjective
Slender and delicately built, with a small or thin frame.
The gymnast's slight frame hid remarkable power.
He was a slight man, easy to lose in a crowd.
Similarslender, slim, lean, svelte, willowy
Oppositestocky, burly, heavy, stout
5
verbtransitive
To treat someone or something with disdain or deliberate neglect, often out of prejudice, hatred, or jealousy; to ignore disrespectfully or neglect one's duties toward.
Critics accused the gallery of slighting younger artists out of snobbery.
Voters rarely forgive politicians who slight their hometowns.
Similardespise, contemn
Oppositerespect, honor
Note
The personal, wounding verb, with a motive like jealousy or prejudice behind the neglect. Mary Shelley's The Mortal Immortal (1833) has a coquette who "slighted me in a thousand ways," and each one is felt. That emotional charge separates it from making light of something, which need not be personal. Respect and honor are its opposites, and each act of it is a slight.
6
nouncountable
A deliberate act of discourtesy or neglect; an instance of snubbing or ignoring someone.
The ambassador read the seating arrangement as a deliberate slight.
He kept a mental list of slights, real and imagined.
Similarsnub, neglect
Oppositerespect
Note
The everyday noun, counted one act at a time: people suffer slights, keep track of them and take remarks as slights. Benjamin Franklin warns that "slights in jest, after frequent bandyings, are apt to end in angry earnest." His point is that a slight is judged by how it lands, not by how it was meant. The word remains current, as Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited" (1997) shows.
7
verbtransitive
To brush something aside as minor, regarding it as not worth one's attention.
Historians often slight the role of luck in great discoveries.
The committee slighted her objections and moved straight to a vote.
Similardownplay, dismiss, disregard, ignore, belittle
Oppositeemphasize, stress, acknowledge, heed
8
verbtransitive
To assign less weight or importance to something than to other considerations.
Standard rankings slight colleges that serve part-time students.
The biography slights her later work in favor of her famous early novels.
Similarbelittle
Oppositevalue, respect, esteem
Note
Talk about speech uses this verb naturally: to slight a syllable is to give it less stress, so it is said quickly and lightly. Josephine Turck Baker's Correct English (1915) marks incontiguously with the accent on tig and "the rest of the syllables slighted." Unlike the verb of snubbing, there is no disrespect in it, only lesser weight.
9
verbintransitive
To act negligently or carelessly, failing to give proper care or attention.
Apprentices who slight in their work never earn a master's trust.
The steward had slighted in his duties, and the accounts fell into disarray.
Similarslack, skimp
10
adjective
Smooth and calm, with scarcely a ripple stirring the surface, as of water on a windless day.
The harbor lay slight under a windless sky, perfect for the rowing race.
Anglers prefer slight water, where every rise of a trout shows plainly.
Similarstill, calm, smooth, glassy, placid
Oppositerough, choppy, turbulent
Note
Water is the usual subject, above all the sea: a slight sea is a calm one, its surface unbroken. The meaning sits close to the "smooth, level" meaning, applied to something that moves rather than to ground or stone. Pairing it with calm, as in "the sea was slight and calm," keeps it from being read as "a small sea."

11
adjectivedated
Disdainful or dismissive in manner; showing contempt or a lack of respect.
He answered in a slight, offhand way that bordered on rudeness.
Her slight reception of the guests did not go unnoticed at court.
Similarscornful, contemptuous, disdainful, dismissive, disrespectful
Oppositerespectful, courteous, gracious, warm
Note
A dated adjective that does the work modern English gives to slighting. Sheridan Le Fanu's The House by the Churchyard (1863) has "this slight way of treating both his book and his ancestors," describing a manner meant to belittle. Today the phrase would likely be read as "a minor way," so slighting, dismissive or disdainful is the safe choice. Keep slight itself for the noun, a snub.
12
adjectivedialectal
Even, smooth, or level, as a stretch of ground or a worked surface.
Beyond the stone wall the land runs slight all the way to the beck.
He planed the board until it was slight enough to take a coat of paint.
Similarsmooth, level, even, flat, sleek
Oppositerough, uneven
Note
Here is the word's oldest meaning, kept alive only regionally. Old English sliht meant "smooth, level," from a Proto-Germanic word for "slippery, flat, plain," and slick is a relative. The meanings of smallness and thinness came later. A slight stone is a smooth one. Outside the regions that keep this use, listeners will hear "small," so flat or even is safer.
13
verbtransitive
To throw or toss something heedlessly, with no care for where or how it lands.
She slighted the letters into the fire without reading a single one.
The workers would slight the sacks off the wagon, splitting half of them open.
Similarthrow, hurl, fling, chuck, toss
Note
A rough, physical verb that is followed by where the thing lands: Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor has "The rogue slighted me into the river." The heedlessness is the point, because the thrower does not care what happens to what is thrown. That links it in feeling to the meanings of disregard. Present-day English would say hurl or bung.
14
verbtransitive
To render a fortification no longer defensible through full or partial demolition.
Parliament voted to slight the captured strongholds rather than garrison them.
The victorious forces slighted the citadel, toppling its towers and breaching its walls.
Similardemolish, dismantle, raze
Oppositefortify, strengthen
Note
A military term for what victors do to strongholds they will not hold: they breach or pull down enough that the place can no longer be defended. The Earl of Clarendon writes that when Parliament had finished the war, they "reduced and slighted most of the inland garrison." The object is a fortification. Partial demolition is enough, so the word need not mean razing to the ground.
15
adjectivearchaic
Near at hand; not far away in space or time.
Take heart. The harbor lies but a slight way off, and we shall make it by dusk.
Her wedding was but a slight while past when the letter arrived.
Note
Smallness of distance rather than of degree, and now archaic and rare: in the slight future means the near future, not an unimportant one. A modern reader will almost always take the word as "small" or "trifling," so outside deliberate period style, near, soon or a short way off say the same thing without the risk of being misread.
16
adjectiveobsolete
Foolish or silly; lacking intellect or seriousness of mind.
But no beast ever was so slight, For man, as for his god, to fight; They have more wit, alas! and know Themselves and us better than so.
1859, Samuel Butler, Hudibras
Similarsilly, foolish, dumb, simple, naive
Note
An obsolete transfer of insubstantiality from body to mind. In Samuel Butler's Hudibras, "no beast ever was so slight" as to fight for man means no beast was so foolish, and the lines go on to say beasts "have more wit." Readers today will hear "slender" or "small" first. Quote it as period usage, and use foolish or silly in new writing.
17
adjectiveobsolete
Bad or of poor quality, as of goods or workmanship.
The thatch proved slight work and let in the rain before winter was out.
Buyers complained that the merchant's rope was slight stuff, fraying at the first hard pull.
Similarpoor, bad, inferior, flimsy, shoddy
Note
Middle English already used the word for "bad, of poor quality," and the meaning lasted long enough for George Washington to complain in his Writings of "slight Goods" arriving alongside "old and unsaleable Articles." It was regional and is now obsolete. A modern reader would take slight goods to mean flimsy or few, so shoddy or poor says it plainly.
18
verbobsoletetransitive
To make something even or level, as by smoothing or flattening it.
Laborers slighted the courtyard with rollers before the paving stones were laid.
After your ground is sowne and harrowed, you shall then clotte it, sleight it, and smooth it.
1620, Gervase Markham, Farwell to Hvsbandry
Note
Farming gave this verb its work: it is the action of the "smooth, level" adjective. Gervase Markham's Farwell to Husbandry (1620) tells the farmer that once ground is sown and harrowed, "you shall then clotte it, sleight it, and smooth it." His spelling, sleight, shows how freely the forms crossed. The verb is obsolete, and modern writing would say level or roll.
19
nounobsolete
Cunning or dexterity, or a crafty trick performed with it.
He gained entry by slight rather than by force, talking his way past the porter.
For till that stownd could never wight him harme, By subtilty, nor slight, nor might, nor mighty charme.
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Note
Cunning and trickery under the wrong spelling: an obsolete form of sleight, the word that survives in sleight of hand. Spenser's The Faerie Queene lists it among the means by which no one could harm him: "By subtilty, nor slight, nor might, nor mighty charme." The overlap ran both ways, since the leveling verb once appeared as sleight. Modern writing uses only sleight for this meaning.

Practice

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Origin

This word comes from Middle English slight ('bad, poor, trivial, slender, smooth, level'), from Old English sliht ('smooth, level'), from Proto-Germanic *slihtaz ('slippery, flat, level'). It is related to English 'slick', and has cognates such as Dutch slecht ('bad'), German schlecht ('bad') and schlicht ('plain'), and Swedish slät ('smooth').