slight
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: slīt
ipa: /slaɪt/
ipa: [slɑjt]
ipa: /slæʔ/
ipa: [sl̥æ̙ːʔ]
ipa: [sl̥ɐɪt]
ipa: [sl̥əɪ̯t]
note: African-American, General South African
ipa: /slaːt/
ipa: /slɑɪt/
ipa: /slɒɪt/
rhymes: -aɪt
homophone: sleight
Forms: form: slights
form: slighting
form: slighted
form: slighted
Etymology: From Middle English slight (“bad, of poor quality, unimportant, trivial, slender, slim, smooth, level”), from Old English sliht (“smooth, level”), from Proto-Germanic *slihtaz (“slippery, flat, level, plain”), related to English slick. Cognate with Scots slicht (“bad, of poor quality”), West Frisian sljocht (“smooth, level, plain, simple”), Dutch slecht (“bad”), Low German slecht (“bad”), German schlecht (“bad”) and schlicht (“plain, artless, natural”), Danish slet (“bad, evil, poor, nasty, wrong”), Swedish slät (“smooth”), Norwegian slett (“even”), Icelandic sléttur (“even, smooth, level”).
Senses: examples: text: the wretch who slights the bounty of the skies
ref: 1782, William Cowper, Truth:
glosses: To treat as unimportant or not worthy of attention; to make light of.
examples: text: Incontiguously (accent on tig; the rest of the syllables slighted) means in an incontiguous manner.
ref: 1915, Josephine Turck Baker, Correct English, volumes 16-17, page 182:
synonyms: belittle
antonyms: respect
value
esteem
glosses: To give lesser weight or importance to.
examples: text: Though true of heart, she was somewhat of a coquette in manner; and I was jealous as a Turk. She slighted me in a thousand ways, yet would never acknowledge herself to be in the wrong. She would drive me mad with anger, and then force me to beg her pardon.
ref: 1833, Mary Shelley, The Mortal Immortal:
synonyms: contemn
despise
antonyms: respect
honor
glosses: To treat (someone or something) with disdain or neglect, usually out of prejudice, hatred, or jealousy; to ignore disrespectfully; to skimp on one's duties toward.
glosses: To act negligently or carelessly.
examples: text: When the parliament had finished the war , they reduced and slighted most of the inland garrison
ref: (Can we date this quote?), Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641, Oxford: The Theater:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To render no longer defensible by full or partial demolition.
raw_tags: of a fortification
examples: text: After your ground is sowne and harrowed, you shall then clotte it, sleight it, and smooth it.
ref: 1620, Gervase Markham, Farwell to Hvsbandry:
glosses: To make even or level.
examples: text: The rogue slighted me into the river.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:
synonyms: word: bung
word: hurl
word: bung
word: cast
word: chuck
word: chunk
word: cook
word: dash
word: dump
word: feck
word: fling
word: jerk
word: heave
word: hield
word: hoy
word: huck
word: hurl
word: hurtle
word: launch
word: lob
word: peck
word: peg
word: pick
word: pitch
word: precipitate
word: project
word: quoit
word: shy
word: slight
word: skew
word: sling
word: thrill
word: throw
word: toss
word: traject
word: warp
word: whang
word: whip
word: whop
word: wing
glosses: To throw heedlessly.
Derived terms: slightingly