lissom

9.2

A person or thing that has a thin, flexible shape and moves with easy grace

adjective
/ˈlɪsəm/

Archaic

: ágil

But with one gesture, he disengages himself—a brief, lissom gesture with his lifted hand, a movement of his head...

Examples

The dancer's lissom body moved gracefully across the stage.
She admired the lissom figure of the gymnast as he performed his routine.
With a lissom leap, the kitten chased after the toy mouse.

Synonyms

supple

vslissom

18 3.7

Able to bend or move easily and smoothly

is narrower, stressing thin graceful human movement rather than general flexibility

lithe

vslissom

9 7.5

Thin and able to move easily and gracefully like a dancer

focuses on thin graceful movement especially of the body rather than general flexibility

lissome

vslissom

Literature

1 9.0

Having a slim, flexible body and moving easily and smoothly

is the same meaning but is an alternate spelling

lithesome

vslissom

1 8.8

A person or animal that moves easily with a thin, flexible body

highlights thin grace in movement rather than broader flexibility

lithe-bodied

vslissom

7.9

A person or animal with a thin, flexible body that moves gracefully

centres on body shape whereas the other term covers movement quality

Antonyms

stiff

127 1.7

Not easy to bend or move

awkward

33 3.0

Not graceful in movement or action

How Graceful

elegant

39 3.4

graceful

87 2.8

lissom

Archaic

9.2

supple

18 3.7

Surface Forms

lissom positive

Morphology

lissom = lissome (opaque) = liss + some

Although historically analyzable as 'liss' + '-some', the root 'liss' is archaic/obscure and the adjective 'lissome' is rare, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Lissom comes from an old English word meaning 'flexible' and is related to the familiar word lithe. So, lissom describes someone or something that can bend or move with ease and grace.