spindly

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   long or tall, unusually thin, and appearing weak or fragile

   A row of spindly saplings bent sharply in the mountain wind.

Formed in English from spindle + -y. It first described plants that were slender and weak, likening their stems to the narrow rod of a spindle; it later broadened to people, limbs, supports, and other things that are disproportionately long and thin.

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