"razor-thin" meaning in English

See razor-thin in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Etymology: First use appears c. 1909, in the Washington Post. Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} razor-thin (not comparable)
  1. (literally) Extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible. Tags: literally, not-comparable Synonyms: paper-thin Translations (extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible): hauchdünn (German)
    Sense id: en-razor-thin-en-adj-I0xI30~b Disambiguation of 'extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible': 98 2
  2. (figuratively) A very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items. Tags: figuratively, not-comparable Translations (a very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items): hauchdünn (German)
    Sense id: en-razor-thin-en-adj-1j6RX9eH Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 23 77 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 19 81 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 18 82 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 10 90 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 22 78 Disambiguation of 'a very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items': 2 98
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: razor thin

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1909, in the Washington Post.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "razor-thin (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible."
      ],
      "id": "en-razor-thin-en-adj-I0xI30~b",
      "links": [
        [
          "fine",
          "fine"
        ],
        [
          "invisible",
          "invisible"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literally) Extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "paper-thin"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "literally",
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible",
          "word": "hauchdünn"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 90",
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          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The Socialists have a razor-thin majority.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items."
      ],
      "id": "en-razor-thin-en-adj-1j6RX9eH",
      "links": [
        [
          "difference",
          "difference"
        ],
        [
          "advantage",
          "advantage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items",
          "word": "hauchdünn"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "razor thin"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Washington Post"
  ],
  "word": "razor-thin"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English uncomparable adjectives",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with German translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1909, in the Washington Post.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "razor-thin (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fine",
          "fine"
        ],
        [
          "invisible",
          "invisible"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literally) Extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "paper-thin"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "literally",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The Socialists have a razor-thin majority.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "difference",
          "difference"
        ],
        [
          "advantage",
          "advantage"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "razor thin"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "extremely fine; so thin as to be almost invisible",
      "word": "hauchdünn"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a very small difference, or advantage, when comparing two items",
      "word": "hauchdünn"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Washington Post"
  ],
  "word": "razor-thin"
}

Download raw JSONL data for razor-thin meaning in English (1.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.