lean
adjective
1. lacking excess flesh; slim.
- Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look
Similar word(s): ectomorphic, anorectic, anorexic, cadaverous, emaciated, gaunt, haggard, pinched, skeletal, wasted, lank, spindly, rawboned, reedlike, reedy, twiggy, twiglike, scarecrowish, boney, bony, scraggly, scraggy, scrawny, skinny, underweight, weedy, shriveled, shrivelled, shrunken, withered, wizen, wizened, slender, slight, slim, svelte, spare, trim, stringy, wiry, sylphic, sylphlike, wisplike, wispy, thin, thin
2. lacking in mineral content or combustible material
- lean ore
- lean fuel
3. having little extra or little to spare.
- a lean budget
Similar word(s): deficient, insufficient, skimpy
4. not profitable or prosperous
- a lean year
Similar word(s): unprofitable
Sentences with lean as an adjective:
- a lean budget; a lean harvest
- A lean ore hardly worth mining.
- Running on too lean a fuel-air mixture will cause, among other problems, your internal combustion engine to heat up too much.
- lean copy, matter, or type
noun
1. the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the vertical
Similar word(s): inclination, leaning, list, tilt
verb
1. to incline or bend from a vertical position
- She leaned over the banister
Similar word(s): angle, slant, tilt, tip
Definition categories: motion, bend, flex
2. cause to lean or incline
- He leaned his rifle against the wall
Definition categories: contact, lay, place, pose, position, put, set
3. have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined
Similar word(s): incline, run, tend
Definition categories: stative, be
4. rely on for support
- We can lean on this man
Definition categories: cognition, trust
5. cause to lean to the side
Similar word(s): list
Definition categories: motion, move
Sentences with lean as a verb:
- a leaning column
- She leaned out of the window.
- I'm leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election.