Slight Slightest Slaɪt Bit Sense Adjective Increase/Change/Difference Variation/Improvement/Advantage

• a slight increase/change/difference
• a slight variation/improvement/advantage
• it won't make the slightest bit of difference
• there's been a slight delay, but we'll be landing in just a few minutes.

slight

1. very small in degree
• a slight increase/change/difference
• a slight variation/improvement/advantage
• It won't make the slightest bit of difference
• There's been a slight delay, but we'll be landing in just a few minutes.
• Mexican producers may gain a slight edge in competitiveness.
• A slight smile appeared on her lips.
• I woke up with a slight headache.
• The damage was slight.
• She takes offence at the slightest thing (= is very easily offended).
• There was not the slightest hint of trouble.
• He is, without the slightest doubt, the greatest living novelist.
• He never had the slightest intention of agreeing to it.
• The picture was at a slight angle.
• A slight breeze was blowing.

Extra Examples

• She smiled to hide her slight embarrassment.
• She spoke with a slight foreign accent.
• The accident had left him with a slight limp.
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement.
• The slightest touch will set off the alarm.
• There's been a slight increase in the number of unemployed in this area.
• The slightest noise will wake him.
• Unfortunately, this plate has a slight flaw in it.
• You may experience some slight discomfort after the operation.
2. small and thin in size
• a slight woman
• He was of slight build.
• She was smaller and slighter than I had imagined.

Extra Examples

• She looked very slight, almost fragile.
• The slight figure of a woman emerged from the house.
3. not deserving serious attention
• This is a very slight novel.
4. not at all
• He didn't seem to mind in the slightest.
• I’m not in the slightest bit interested.

Word Origin

• Middle English; the adjective from Old Norse sléttr ‘smooth’ (an early sense in English), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch slechts ‘merely’ and German schlicht ‘simple’, schlecht ‘bad’; the verb (originally in the sense ‘make smooth or level’), from Old Norse slétta. The sense “treat with disrespect” dates from the late 16th cent.