List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 219

SYNONYMS: lean, spare, skinny, scrawny, lank, lanky, rawboned, gaunt.
These adjectives mean lacking excess flesh.

Lean emphasizes absence of fat: The farmer tried to fatten the lean cattle for market.
Spare . sometimes suggests trimness and good muscle tone: He was an old man, very tall and spare. She has the spare figure of a marathon runner
Skinny and scrawny imply unattractive thinness, as that associated with undernourishment: The child has skinny, freckled legs with prominent knees. He had a long, scrawny neck that rose out of a very low collar.
Lank describes one who is thin and tall, and lanky one who is thin, tall, and ungraceful: He was exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders. She was transformed from a lanky adolescent into a willowy young woman.
Rawboned suggests a thin, bony, gangling build: a rawboned cowhand with a weather-beaten, tanned face.
Gaunt implies thin and bony and a haggard appearance; it may suggest illness or hardship: a white-haired pioneer, her face gaunt from overwork and worry.