slighter

Pluralslighters

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of slight.

   The damage to the older bridge was slighter than the engineers had expected.

   He was of slighter build than his younger brother.

   Note

   The regular one-word comparative: slight has a single syllable, so it takes -er and does not need "more slight." It follows whichever sense of slight is in play. A slighter build is more slender, slighter damage is less serious, and a slighter matter is less important. The same spelling also names a person, someone who snubs others, and only the surrounding sentence tells the two apart.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   Someone who snubs or belittles others, treating them as beneath notice or unworthy of respect.

   The committee chair was a notorious slighter, dismissing junior members with a wave of his hand.

   As a habitual slighter, she rarely greeted anyone she considered beneath her.

   Similarsnob

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