gracile

Alternative forms

• gracilent

Etymology

From Latin gracilis (“slender”). In the “graceful” sense, apparently influenced by the non-cognate word grace.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæs.aɪl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæs.aɪl/, /ˈɡɹeɪs.aɪl/

Adjective

gracile (comparative more gracile, superlative most gracile)

1. Slender; thin; lean.
   • 1853, Works of Walter Savage Landor:

     Unswathe his Egyptian mummy; and […] you disclose the grave features and gracile bones of […] a cat

   • 1971, Oxford English Dictionary#Compact_editions:

     Gracile ... By some recent writers misused (through association with grace) for "Gracefully slender":

   • 2005, Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale:

     They seem to have evolved from more ‘gracile’ apes (gracile being the opposite of robust).

   • 2009, Clive Finlayson, Neanderthals and Modern Humans:

     A more gracile morphology would have been far more efficient over larger areas.

2. Graceful or gracefully slender.

Anagrams

• Cargile, glacier

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin gracilis. Doublet of grêle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁa.sil/

Adjective

gracile (plural graciles)

1. gracile

Further reading

• “gracile” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Adjective

gracile (masculine and feminine plural gracili)

1. delicate, frail, weakly
2. slender, thin

Anagrams

• grecali, legarci

Adjective

gracile

1. nominative neuter singular of gracilis
2. accusative neuter singular of gracilis
3. vocative neuter singular of gracilis