Thinning

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. The process whereby a material becomes less thick or dense occurs through gradual removal or adjustment, resulting in a more sparse state or condition
2. The act of making something less thick or crowded by reducing its density or volume ; the process of taking away surplus parts to make something less full or compact
3. Reducing the overall thickness or concentration of a substance or object ; eliminating extra elements to create a sparser, less heavy arrangement

Etymology: Thinning comes from the adjective "thin," which English has used since Old English as "þynne." The adjective traces back to a Proto-Germanic ""þunnuz," and beyond that to a Proto-Indo-European root ""ten-," meaning "to stretch." The idea behind it is that a thin thing is one that has been stretched out, spread thinly across its extent. That stretching sense links "thin" to a surprising family. Latin "tenuis," meaning slender or fine, is a doublet of "thin," meaning the two words descend from the same ancestor but reached English and Latin by separate routes. English "tenuous," describing something flimsy or weakly held together, is related as well. Cognates across the Germanic and wider Indo-European languages include German "dünn," Dutch "dun," and Swedish "tunn," as well as Russian "тонкий" and Sanskrit "तनु," all carrying the same core notion of something stretched fine.

Synonyms: diminishing, reducing, weakening, lessening, slimming

Antonyms: thickening, increasing, growing, enlarging, augmenting