thinner

Pluralthinners

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative form of thin.

   The newer phone is thinner and lighter than its predecessor.

   Mountain air grows noticeably thinner as the climbers gain elevation.

   Note

   The everyday comparative, formed by doubling the final n before -er, as short words ending in one vowel and one consonant do. It carries every meaning of thin, so a sheet, a wire, a person, a soup or a crowd can all grow thinner, usually in the frame thinner than. The same spelling is also a noun, the liquid for paint, which thins in the 'less viscous' sense.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A liquid added to paint, varnish, or another fluid to make it less thick.

   He stirred some thinner into the varnish before the final coat.

   Industrial painters keep thinners on hand to adjust the viscosity of their coatings.

   Similarsolvent, diluent

   Oppositethickener

   Note

   An agent noun made from the verb thin plus -er, meaning whatever does the thinning. Which liquid counts as a thinner depends on what is being thinned: turpentine or mineral spirits serve for oil-based paints. The plural thinners is natural when speaking of a range of such products, as painters and suppliers do.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A person, tool, or substance that reduces the thickness or density of something else.

   The orchard crew brought in a mechanical thinner to space out the apple blossoms.

   Each thinner on the production line removes excess material to a set tolerance.

   Note

   The wider use, where what gets thinned is a quantity or density rather than a liquid's consistency. Orchards run mechanical thinners through peach blossoms, grooms finish a horse with a mane thinner, and blood thinner names whatever thins the blood, with pomegranate juice and exercise both given that label. Most uses pair the noun with what it thins or how it works.

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