SLIGHT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Slight

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adjective

Slight adj. (compar. slighter; superl. slightest)

Not decidedly marked; not forcible; inconsiderable; unimportant; insignificant; not severe; weak; gentle; applied in a great variety of circumstances; as, a slight (i. e., feeble) effort; a slight (i. e., perishable) structure; a slight (i. e., not deep) impression; a slight (i. e., not convincing) argument; a slight (i. e., not thorough) examination; slight (i. e., not severe) pain, and the like. "At one slight bound." "Slight is the subject, but not so the praise." "Some firmly embrace doctrines upon slight grounds."

Not stout or heavy; slender. "His own figure, which was formerly so slight."

Foolish; silly; weak in intellect.

noun

Slight n. Sleight.

Slight n. The act of slighting; the manifestation of a moderate degree of contempt, as by neglect or oversight; neglect; indignity.

Synonyms: Neglect; disregard; inattention; contempt; disdain; scorn; disgrace; indignity; disparagement.

verb

Slight v. t.

To overthrow; to demolish. (Obs.)

To make even or level. (Obs.)

To throw heedlessly. (Obs.) "The rogue slighted me into the river."

Slight v. t. (past & past part. slighted; pres. part. slighting) To disregard, as of little value and unworthy of notice; to make light of; as, to slight the divine commands. "The wretch who slights the bounty of the skies."

To slight off, to treat slightingly; to drive off; to remove. (R.) To slight over, to run over in haste; to perform superficially; to treat carelessly; as, to slight over a theme. "They will but slight it over."

Synonyms: To neglect; disregard; disdain; scorn. Slight, Neglect. To slight is stronger than to neglect. We may neglect a duty or person from inconsiderateness, or from being over-occupied in other concerns. To slight is always a positive and intentional act, resulting from feelings of dislike or contempt. We ought to put a kind construction on what appears neglect on the part of a friend; but when he slights us, it is obvious that he is our friend no longer. "Beware... lest the like befall... If they transgress and slight that sole command." "This my long-sufferance, and my day of grace, Those who neglect and scorn shall never taste."

adverb

Slight adv. Slightly. (Obs. or Poetic) "Think not so slight of glory."

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Etymology of 'Slight'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Slight" Quotes from Famous Books

... advanced slowly and shyly, with something a little deprecatory in his air, to which a lathy figure, a slight stoop, and a very gentle and even heartbroken look in his pale long face, gave a more marked character of ...

— J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 3 • Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

... harshness of the classification, while they remove a distinct anomaly: the discussion of such a poem as "Pauline" under its own title, such a one as "Aristophanes' Apology," under that of a group; but even this slight improvement rather detracts from than increases what little symmetry my scheme possessed. The other changes which, on my own account, I have been able to make, include the re-writing of some passages in which the needful condensation had unnecessarily mutilated the author's ...

— A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.) • Mrs. Sutherland Orr

... years arranged in a tabular form, and by collating the months or groups of months in which batches of eclipses occur. This is not an obvious matter to the casual purchaser of an almanac, who, feeling just a slight interest in the eclipses of a coming new year, dips into his new purchase to see what those eclipses will be. A haphazard glance at the almanacs of even two or three successive years will probably fail to bring home to him the idea that each year has its ...

— The Story of Eclipses • George Chambers

... England, a monastery. The site chosen for its home was still, however, characteristic of the old point of view of Thanet. It was the place that yet bears the name of Minster, situated on a little creek of the Wantsum sea, where some slight remains of an ancient pier may even now be traced among the silt of the marshes. The island still looked towards the narrow seas and the port of Rutupiae, not, as now, towards the tall cliffs and the German Ocean. Ecgberht, fourth Christian king ...

— Science in Arcady • Grant Allen

... was to spread its rule across the Channel, and to gather the towns of England under the same sceptre that swayed the citizens of Rouen. But before the coming of the Northmen, there are a few more slight facts that I must chronicle if only to explain the desert and the ruins that alone were Rouen when the first pirate galley swept up to the quay and anchored close to where the western door of the Cathedral now looks ...

— The Story of Rouen • Sir Theodore Andrea Cook

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