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storklike

storklike

1 6.8
Tall and thin with very long legs, often walking with long steps
  • adjective
  • /ˈstɔrkˌlaɪk/
: como una cigüeña
  • The bird moved with a storklike elegance, balancing on one leg as it searched for food in the shallow water.

Examples

  • "She looks over to the tire swing, where their oldest daughter stands, storklike, watching the trucks pull out across the street."

    Fiction book (1999)
  • I remembered Jason on the last night of camp, standing on one leg, storklike, at the front of the auditorium full of eighth-graders—his intense

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Her storklike grace made her a natural in ballet class, as she glided effortlessly across the floor.

  • With her storklike frame, she easily towered over her classmates during the school photo.

How Storklike

storklike
1 6.8
birdlike
2 3.2

Surface Forms

storklike positive

Morphology

storklike = stork (transparent) = stork + like

Meaning is directly derived from 'stork' with the productive adjectival suffix '-like' meaning 'resembling'.

Etymology

The word storklike comes from the bird stork, known for its very long legs and a tall, graceful walk, plus the ending -like, which means 'similar to'. So storklike describes a person or movement that looks tall, thin, or moves like a stork.