- 1 very small in degree a slight increase/change/delay/difference I woke up with a slight headache. The damage was slight. She takes offence at the slightest thing (= is very easily offended). There was not the slightest hint of trouble. He is, without the slightest doubt, the greatest living novelist. He never had the slightest intention of agreeing to it. The picture was at a slight angle. A slight breeze was blowing. Oxford Collocations Dictionary verbsappear, be, seem, … adverbextremely, fairly, very, … phrasesthe slightest of… See full entry
- 2small and thin in size a slight woman He was of slight build. She was smaller and slighter than I had imagined. Oxford Collocations Dictionary verbsbe, look adverbvery, physically See full entry See related entries: Body shape
- 3(formal) not deserving serious attention This is a very slight novel. Word OriginMiddle English; the adjective from Old Norse sléttr ‘smooth’ (an early sense in English), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch slechts ‘merely’ and German schlicht ‘simple’, schlecht ‘bad’; the verb (originally in the sense ‘make smooth or level’), from Old Norse slétta. The sense “treat with disrespect” dates from the late 16th cent.Extra examples She looked very slight, almost fragile. She never had the slightest intention of agreeing. She smiled to hide her slight embarrassment. She spoke with a slight foreign accent. She takes offence at the slightest thing. The accident had left him with a slight limp. The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. The slight figure of a woman emerged from the house. The slightest noise will wake him. The slightest touch will set off the alarm. There’s been a slight increase in the number of unemployed in this area. Unfortunately, this plate has a slight flaw in it. You may experience some slight discomfort after the operation.Idioms
adjective jump to other results
BrE BrE//slaɪt//; NAmE NAmE//slaɪt//
(slighter, slightest) Body shapenot at all He didn't seem to mind in the slightest. I’m not in the slightest bit interested.
Check pronunciation: slight
