adjective

• 1Anthropology
  (of a hominid species) of slender build.

  ‘But today, there are eight putative species of early gracile hominid - and a number of the most recent and most ancient have characteristics that might force a re-interpretation of our earliest ancestry.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘This was also the age of ‘Lucy,’ Australopithecus afarensis, and the radiation of robust and gracile hominids which produced the genus Homo.’
  • ‘Some are stocky, others are slender and gracile in body shape.’
  • ‘Alternatively, Homo habilis may stand on the evolutionary line between the gracile Australopithecines and Homo erectus.’
  • ‘Fossil evidence links human ancestry with populations that evolved from modern gracile morphology in Africa 130,000-160,000 years ago.’

  1. 1.1(of a person) attractively slender or thin.
     ‘Males are generally smaller, more gracile and more angular than females.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘She is gracile and delightful.’
     • ‘She was gracile, and her curves seemed liquid smooth.’
     Synonyms

     slim, lean, slender, rangy, willowy, svelte, sylphlike, spare, slight