Standard Lemma guide

gangly

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /ˈɡæŋ.ɡli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: G AE1 NG L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

tall and thin

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gangling, lanky

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

tall and thin and having long slender limbs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a gangling teenager
  • a lanky kid transformed almost overnight into a handsome young man

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gangling, lanky, rangy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

An American English alteration of gangling.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: слаб (slab) — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Bulgarian: тънък (tǎnǎk) — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Cebuano: lagwis — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Danish: ranglet — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Dutch: slungelig — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Finnish: hoikka — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Finnish: hontelo — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • French: dégingandé — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Italian: spilungone — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Italian: allampanato — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hengslete — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Russian: долговязый (dolgovjazyj) — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Spanish: ñango — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Spanish: ñengo — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Spanish: ñengue — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness
  • Swedish: gänglig — tall and thin, especially so as to cause physical awkwardness