stringy

Everyday

1. Stringy food is full of tough fibres like strings and is hard to chew: stringy meat, stringy celery. tree →
2. Stringy hair is thin, hangs in long straight strands and often looks greasy or untidy. tree →
3. A stringy person is thin with lean, wiry muscles. tree →
4. Stringy also describes anything that stretches into thin strings, like melted cheese. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life it describes food and hair; in stories it helps paint a character's looks. In science, fibres in plants like celery make them stringy. Phrases: "stringy cheese", "stringy hair", "stringy beans".

Examples

• This beef is stringy and hard to chew. tree →
• Pull the stringy bits off the celery. tree →
• The melted cheese on the pizza was all stringy. tree →
• After swimming, my hair was wet and stringy. tree →
• The old farmer was stringy and strong. tree →
• Runner beans get stringy if you pick them late. tree →
• Her stringy fringe hung over her eyes. tree →

Note

Comparative: stringier, stringiest. Saying someone's hair is stringy is not polite. "String cheese" is a snack made to peel into strings.