I. ˈgrasəl also -(ˌ)sil or -ˌsīl adjective
Etymology: Latin gracilis; perhaps akin to Old Norse horr emaciation, Latin cracent-, cracens slender, Sanskrit kṛśa emaciated, kṛśyati to become emaciated
1.
a. : slender , thin , slight
the gracile hermit's lunch — James Merrill
the human remains … indicate a gracile people with small teeth — D.A.Hooijer
b. : gracefully slender or slight
her gracile and candid girlhood — Joseph Hergesheimer
three gracile , rosy-fleshed women — Time
her red coarse little hands which did not seem to belong to those gracile arms — Arnold Bennett
2. : graceful
lifted her head high for an instant, with the gracile motion a seal has — R.P.Warren
a gracile writer, thinker, and teacher — Lincoln Kirstein
• grac·ile·ness noun -es
II. adjective
( -s )
: of, relating to, resembling, or being a primitive group of relatively small slender hominids of the genus Australopithecus (as A. africanus ) characterized especially by molars and incisors of similar size that are adapted to a diet including both plant materials and animal flesh — compare robust herein
• gracile noun