lissome
1
9.0
- adjective
- /ˈlɪsəm/
- Literature
:
ágil
- Two members, a red-haired man whose flesh was covered in sweat and a lissome, dark-haired woman with eyes that housed terrible secrets, stood together in the shadows provided by the tents housing the chefs and their delicacies.
- a lissome woman
- lithe and lissome
Examples
-
But they seemed so lissome, so sensuous that every hand in the place wanted to stroke them, including mine.
Fiction book (2001) -
He would stand on the sidewalk and follow her blond, lissome shape as she swayed over the intricacies of the same piece.
Fiction book (1992) -
This direct citation of the master physically overlaps the luminous, lissome saint, who is both a self-portrait and a marker of the emergence of Van Dyck's own mature style.
Academic text (2015) -
The dancer moved with a lissome grace, effortlessly twirling across the stage.
-
Her lissome figure made it easy for her to slip through the crowded room.
-
The lissome vines climbed gracefully up the trellis, enchanting everyone who passed by.
Synonyms
18
3.7
Able to bend or move easily and smoothly
9
7.5
Thin and able to move easily and gracefully like a dancer
1
8.8
A person or animal that moves easily with a thin, flexible body
1
3.9
Moving smoothly and elegantly without sudden or awkward movements
A person or thing that has a thin, flexible shape and moves with easy grace
A person or animal with a thin, flexible body that moves gracefully
Moving easily and gracefully like a dancer
Antonyms
How Graceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
lissome = liss + some
Although the surface segmentation suggests 'liss' + the adjective-forming suffix '-some', the root 'liss' is archaic/rare and not recognizable to average learners, so the meaning 'graceful' cannot be reliably derived from the parts.
Etymology
Lissome comes from an old English root liss meaning 'ease' or 'pleasant', so it originally described something that moved easily and smoothly. So, lissome today means 'graceful and flexible', like a dancer who seems to move without effort.