What does scrawniest mean?
Scrawniest means extremely scrawny: very thin, lean, bony, or insufficiently nourished. It is the superlative form of the adjective scrawny and is used when comparing two or more people, animals, plants, or objects. A scrawniest cat might be one that appears far thinner than the other cats in a shelter, while a scrawniest tree could have branches that look almost bare and fragile. The word is especially natural when describing visible thinness, but it can sound unkind or alarmingly harsh when applied to a person because it may imply starvation or neglect. Its emphatic form makes it useful in vivid descriptions, including literary writing, captions, and everyday observations. It is also a straightforward comparative word, paired with scrawny and the intermediate form scrawnier.
adjectiveExtremely thin or lean, especially to the point of looking bony or undernourished.
- Extremely thin, lean, or bony in appearance
"The scrawniest stray waited outside the bakery, watching the customers through the window."
"The scrawniest boy in the class volunteered to carry the equipment."
"By the end of the winter, the scrawniest branches had been completely stripped of leaves."
Scrawniest is the ultimate way to say that something is thin beyond doubt.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of scrawniest
The adjective scrawny was in use in English by the seventeenth century, but its precise origin is uncertain. It may have developed from an older English term meaning thin or lean, although the details of that development and any proposed connections with other languages remain unverified.
Related word forms
How scrawniest is actually used
Scrawniest is the superlative of scrawny, with the comparative scrawnier. It is commonly used of people, animals, plants, or structures, and can sound slightly harsh when describing a person because it suggests extreme thinness or poor nourishment.
Easily confused with scrawniest
Scrawny is the base adjective meaning thin or lean, while scrawniest is its superlative form, used to compare more than two people or things.