slight

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   lacking substance or significance

   slight evidence

2. 2
   adj

   Minor; small in amount

   give it a slight kick

3. 3
   adj

   Of slender build.

   a slight but graceful woman

4. 4
   adj

   Even, smooth or level.

   A slight stone

5. 5
   adj

   Still; with little or no movement on the surface.

   The sea was slight and calm

6. 6
   adj

   Foolish; silly; not intellectual.

   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.

7. 7
   adj

   Bad, of poor quality.

   1889 (first published), George Washington, Writings we frequently have slight Goods and sometimes old and unsaleable Articles

8. 8
   adj

   Slighting; treating with disdain.

   This slight way of treating both his book and his ancestors nettled little Puddock – who never himself took a liberty, and expected similar treatment – but he knew Sturk, the nature of the beast, and he only bowed grandly […]

Etymology

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 slett (“even”), Icelandic sléttur (“even, smooth, level”).