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In Death on the Rocks, a 2013 mystery novel by Deryn Lake, the hero John Rawlings is described as having “svelte eyebrows” (he raises them also in 1995’s Death at the Beggar’s Opera). Lake’s oeuvre notwithstanding, svelte is not an adjective commonly applied to eyebrows, though it’s perfectly appropriate to do so—one of the word’s meanings is “sleek,” and it is often used to describe such disparate things as gowns and sports cars having clean lines. But “svelte eyebrows” also makes etymological sense; svelte came to English (by way of French) from the Italian adjective svelto, which itself comes from the verb svellere, meaning “to pluck out.” Since its debut in English in the early 19th century, however, svelte has more often been used with its original meaning to describe a person’s body—not just the tufts of hair above their eyes—as slender, graceful, or lithe.
Synonyms
Examples of svelte in a Sentence
Ashley Hume, Fox News, 1 Feb. 2025
This slick ultraportable represents an ideal blend of power and battery life with some unexpected features in an attractive, svelte design.
—PCMAG, 10 Jan. 2025
No details were provided beyond its name, and a brief video suggesting its svelte nature.
—Ars Technica, 22 Jan. 2025
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia
New River Gorge National Park packs an adventurous punch in its svelte 73,000 acres, protecting 53 miles of the class IV New River and the steep, rocky gorge around it.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 21 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for svelte 
Dictionary Entries Near svelte
Cite this Entry
“Svelte.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/svelte. Accessed 16 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
from French svelte "slender, sleek," from Italian svelto (same meaning), derived from svellere "to pluck out," derived from Latin evellere "to pluck"
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