different between slim vs underweight

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Details on sense development -- how did we get from "bad" to "favorably thin"?”)Borrowing from Dutch slim (“bad, sly, clever”), from Middle Dutch slim (“bad, crooked”), from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”). Compare Dutch slim (“smart, clever, crafty”) Middle High German slimp (“slanting, awry”), German schlimm (“bad”), West Frisian slim (“bad, dire”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sl?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Adjective

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimmest)

1. Slender, thin.
   1. (of a person or a person's build) Slender in an attractive way.

      Movie stars are usually slim, attractive, and young.

   2. (by extension, of clothing) Designed to make the wearer appear slim.
   3. (of an object) Long and narrow.
   4. (of a workforce) Of a reduced size, with the intent of being more efficient.
2. (of something abstract like a chance or margin) Very small, tiny.

   I'm afraid your chances are quite slim.
3. (rural, Northern England, Scotland) Bad, of questionable quality; not strongly built, flimsy.

4. (South Africa, obsolete in Britain) Sly, crafty.

Synonyms

• (slender in an attractive way.): lithe, svelte, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender
• (clothing):
• (long and narrow): fine, stalky, sticklike, thin, virgate
• (reduced workforce):
• (tiny; of something abstract): infinitesimal, marginal; see also Thesaurus:tiny
• (of questionable quality): flimsy, lousy, shoddy; see also Thesaurus:low-quality
• (crafty): cunning, frood; see also Thesaurus:wily

Translations

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Noun

slim (plural slims)

1. A type of cigarette substantially longer and thinner than normal cigarettes.

   I only smoke slims.

2. (Ireland, regional) A potato farl.
3. (East Africa, uncountable) AIDS, or the chronic wasting associated with its later stages.
4. (slang, uncountable) Cocaine.

Alternative forms

• (AIDS): Slim

Verb

slim (third-person singular simple present slims, present participle slimming, simple past and past participle slimmed)

1. (intransitive) To lose weight in order to achieve slimness.
2. (transitive) To make slimmer; to reduce in size.

Translations

Anagrams

• MILs, MLIS, MSIL, SMIL, mils, misl

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse slím (“slime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sli?m/, [sli??m]

Noun

slim c or n (singular definite slimen or slimet, uncountable)

1. slime
2. mucus

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch slim, slem, slimp, slemp, from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”), compare German schlimm (“bad”), English slim.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sl?m/
• Hyphenation: slim
• Rhymes: -?m

Adjective

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimst)

1. intelligent, bright
2. clever, smart
3. (now dialectal, Eastern Dutch) wrong, incorrect, bad

Inflection

Synonyms

• intelligent
• scherpzinnig
• schrander
• sluw

Derived terms

• slimheid
• slimmerd
• slimmerik
• slimmigheid

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse slím

Noun

slim n (definite singular slimet, uncountable)

1. mucus, phlegm
2. slime

Derived terms

• slimhinne

References

• “slim” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “slim_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse slím

Noun

slim n (definite singular slimet, uncountable)

1. mucus, phlegm
2. slime

Derived terms

• slimhinne

References

• “slim” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

West Frisian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sl?m/

Adjective

slim

1. bad
2. dire
3. difficult

Inflection

Further reading

• “slim (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Etymology

under- +? weight.

Adjective

underweight (comparative more underweight, superlative most underweight)

1. Of an inappropriately or unusually low weight.

   He's so underweight he's had to buy smaller clothes.

   He's thirty pounds underweight.

   The market trader was fined for selling underweight bags of fruit.

2. Not too heavy for an intended purpose.

   The suitcase is just slightly underweight; I'll let it on the plane.

3. (finance) Being less invested in a particular area than market wisdom suggests.

   The fund is underweight in mining.

   • 2011, Murdoch, S. Foreigners back for Aussie stocks, The Australian

     "It's a long-run trend of foreign investors -- typically being underweight the banking sector in Australia," Mr Baker said.

Antonyms

• (of low weight): overweight
• (not too heavy): overweight

Translations

Noun

underweight (countable and uncountable, plural underweights)

1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being underweight.
   • 1996, United States Institute of Medicine Committee on Scientific Evaluation of WIC Nutrition Risk Criteria, WIC Nutrition Risk Criteria: A Scientific Assessment, National Academies Press, ?ISBN, page 110,

     Underweight reflects the body’s thinness, but the term does not necessarily imply the nature and causes of underweight.

2. (countable) An underweight person.
3. (countable, finance) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Antonyms

• (state or quality): overweight
• (underweight person): overweight

Translations

Verb

underweight (third-person singular simple present underweights, present participle underweighting, simple past and past participle underweighted)

1. (transitive) To underestimate the weight of.
2. (transitive) To give insufficient weight to (a consideration); to underestimate the importance of.