sylphlike - Glite Dictionary

Examples

Alice was sylphlike, dressed all in black.

Fiction book (1994)
And knowing that they had previously measured Samantha and my sylphlike fellow bridesmaids, I had to sternly suppress my paranoia.

Fiction book (2000)
Alice was sylphlike, dressed all in black, moving gracefully across the room.
She is slender and sylphlike, gliding effortlessly as she walks among her friends.
Bob's dark, wavy hair contrasted with Claire's sylphlike beauty, making her appear almost ethereal.

Synonyms

willowy

vssylphlike

4 6.4

Slim and graceful in a way that looks attractive

stresses slender grace combined with delicate light movement

swanlike

vssylphlike

1 4.4

Moving or looking graceful like a swan

leans more toward slender delicate grace than broad stately motion

nymphlike

vssylphlike

1 8.3

Graceful and delicate in a way that looks very beautiful

focuses more on slender form and light movement than general beauty

sylphic

vssylphlike

Archaic

1 9.9

Slim and graceful in a light, delicate way

highlights slender elegant form rather than extra delicate movement

Antonyms

clumsy

95 1.2

Moving in an awkward, unsteady way that causes accidents

stout

10 3.9

Rather heavy in body, often said politely about a person

How Graceful

elegant

65 3.4

graceful

80 2.8

sylphic

Archaic

1 9.9

sylphlike

Archaic

1 9.4

slender

64 1.4

Surface Forms

sylphlike positive

Morphology

sylphlike = sylph (transparent) = sylph + like

Formed by adding the productive adjectival suffix '-like' to 'sylph', so the meaning 'resembling a sylph' is directly derived though 'sylph' is literary and somewhat rare.

Etymology

Sylphlike comes from sylph, an old name for a thin, light air spirit, and the ending -like, which means 'similar to'. Think of a small 'elf' or 'fairy' that seems to float on the air, and that's why sylphlike means very slender and graceful.