Word.ws English Dictionary

thick

UK/θɪk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

New Zealand/θɘk/

thick adjective: relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension. Also the alternative form of thilk.

Adjective

thick (comparative thicker, superlative thickest)

  1. Relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
    • The thickest salmon, the curdiest trout, the fattest partridge, and the most tender woodcock smoked on his board, and, rumor said, cooked with a delicacy that more pretentious houses could not rival.1861, Charles James Lever, A Day's Ride
    • The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.[…].1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    broad, wide
  2. Measuring a certain number of units in this dimension.
    • I want some planks that are two inches thick.
  3. Heavy in build; thickset.
    • He had such a thick neck that he had to turn his body to look to the side.
    • As she twirled around in front of the mirror admiring how the dress showed off her thick booty, she felt like a princess in a children's storybook.2007, James T. Knight, Queen of the Hustle
  4. Densely crowded or packed.
    • My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the...1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
    • We walked through thick undergrowth.
  5. Having a viscous consistency.
    • My mum’s gravy was thick but at least it moved about.
  6. Abounding in number.
    • The room was thick with reporters.
    • Seashells lay thick on the beach.
    Antonyms:
    scant, scarce, slight
  7. Impenetrable to sight.
    • We drove through thick fog.
  8. (Of an accent) Greatly evocative of one's nationality or place of origin.
    • He answered me in his characteristically thick Creole patois.
  9. (Of an accent) Difficult to understand, or poorly articulated.
    • We had difficulty understanding him with his thick accent.
  10. (informal) Stupid.
    • He was as thick as two short planks.
  11. (informal) Friendly or intimate.
    • They were as thick as thieves.
    • Jem is a tall, good-looking fellow, as old as I am, and that's twenty-one last birthday; we came into the office together years ago, and have been very thick ever since1859, Thomas Hughes, The Scouring of the White Horse
    Antonyms:
    unacquainted
  12. Deep, intense, or profound.
    • Thick darkness.
    Synonyms:
    great, extreme
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (literary) Detailed and expansive; substantive.
    • Thick prehistory also is interested in a much broader array of topics than the perennial sociological concern for how individuals relate to the collective and how social continuity and change occur in light of that relationship; thick prehistory addresses the social, biological, and psychological...2006, Christopher Carr, D. Troy Case, “The Gathering of Hopewell”, in Christopher Carr, D. Troy Case, editors, Gathering Hopewell: Society, Ritual, and Ritual Interaction, →ISBN, page 47
    • A thick theory, such as libertarianism or socialism, is not appropriate as the basis for a constitution in a pluralistic society in which the people hold differing views about the good (or justice).2013, John O. McGinnis, Michael B. Rappaport, Originalism and the Good Constitution, →ISBN, page 5
  2. (UK, dated) Troublesome; unreasonable.
    • “Screaming headlines in every paper in the country—damn all journalists, I say! Do you know there was a whole crowd staring in at the lodge gates this morning. Sort of Madame Tussaud’s chamber of horrors business that can be seen for nothing. Pretty thick, isn’t it?”1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 126
    • "Of course I was eager to put her affairs in order," George told my father, "but I found it a bit thick when expected to pay for Lord Randolph Churchill's barouche purchased in the '80s."1969, Anita Leslie, Lady Randolph Churchill, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 288
  3. (slang) Curvy and voluptuous, and especially having large hips.
    • A word to the thick soul sistas, I want to get with ya1991, “Baby Got Back”, in Mack Daddy, performed by Sir Mix-a-Lot

Adverb

thick (comparative thicker, superlative thickest)

  1. In a thick manner.
    • Snow lay thick on the ground.
  2. Frequently or numerously.
    • The arrows flew thick and fast around us.

Noun

thick (plural thicks)

  1. The thickest, or most active or intense, part of something.
    • It was mayhem in the thick of battle.
    • He through a little window cast his sight / Through thick of bars, that gave a scanty light.1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  2. A thicket.
    • gloomy thicks1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned...
    • Through the thicke they heard one rudely rush.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  3. (slang) A stupid person; a fool.
    • If there was doctorates in bollocksology and scratching yourself in bed, the two of you'd be professors by now. Pair of loafing, idle thicks.2014, Joseph O'Connor, The Thrill of It All, page 100

Verb

thick (third-person singular simple present thicks, present participle thicking, simple past and past participle thicked)

  1. (ambitransitive, archaic) To thicken.
    • A wicked ambush , which lay hidden long In the close covert of her guilful eyen,
      Thence breaking forth , did thick about me throng1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet VII”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC
    • The nightmare Life-in-death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold.1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, chapter 3, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, lines 193–194

Also used as

thick is also the alternative form of thilk.

thick meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

thick in Hindi

relatively great in extent from one surface to another
मोटा moṭā

thick in Urdu

relatively great in extent from one surface to another
موٹا moṭā

thick in Bengali

relatively great in extent from one surface to another
মোটা mōṭa

thick in Telugu

relatively great in extent from one surface to another
మందమైన mandamaina
densely crowded or packed
దట్టమైన daṭṭamaina
having a viscous consistency
చిక్కని cikkani
More languagesFewer languages
thick in Malayalam
കട്ടിയുള്ള kaṭṭiyuḷḷa, കട്ടി kaṭṭi, കടുപ്പം kaṭuppaṁ
thick in Sanskrit
घन ghana, बहुल bahula
thick in Pashto
ډبل ḍabël, غټ ǧaṭ, ګڼ gëṇ, پلند pland
thick in Tagalog
makapal
thick in Arabic
سَمِيك samīk, غَلِيظ ḡalīẓ, كَثِيف kaṯīf, تخين taḵīn
thick in Malay
tebal, pekat
thick in Indonesian
tebal, kental
thick in Persian
کلفت koloft, ستبر setabr, چاق čâq, ضخیم zaxim
thick in Thai
หนา nǎa, ข้น kôn
thick in Vietnamese
dày, đặc
thick in Myanmar
ထူ htu, ထူထဲ htuhtai:, ပျစ် pyac
Sindhi
ٿُلهو thulo

Examples of thick in a sentence

  • JJ loved “average hood girls”, Cody loved dark-skinned thick girls and Mooch lusted for yellow-boned skinny woman.2009, Kenny Attaway, Nuthouse Love, page 82:
  • I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

All 40 example sentences with thick

Synonyms of thick

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of thick

Forms of thick

Adjective
comparativethicker
superlativethickest
Adverb
comparativethicker
superlativethickest
Noun
pluralthicks
Verb
third-person singular presentthicks
present participlethicking
past participlethicked
pastthicked

Origin of thick

From Middle English thikke, from Old English þicce (“thick, dense”), from Proto-West Germanic *þikkwī, from Proto-Germanic *þekuz (“thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *tégus (“thick”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sjok, tjok, tjuk, tschok (“thick”), Saterland Frisian tjuk (“thick”), West Frisian dik, tuuk (“thick”), Central Franconian deck (“thick”), Cimbrian dikh, dikhe (“thick”), Dutch dik (“thick”), German dick (“thick”), Luxembourgish déck (“thick”), Yiddish דיק (dik, “thick”), Danish tyk (“thick”), Elfdalian tiokk (“thick”), Faroese tjúkkur (“thick”), Icelandic þykkur (“thick”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk tjukk, tykk (“thick”), Scanian tjykker (“thick”), Swedish tjock (“thick”); also Cornish and Welsh tew (“thick”), Irish tiubh, tiugh (“thick”), Manx çhiu (“thick”), Scottish Gaelic tiugh (“thick”).

Words formed from thick

Phrases with thick

23 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with thick

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about thick

What does thick mean?
Thick means relatively great in extent from one surface to the opposite in its smallest solid dimension.
What is thick in Hindi?
Thick in Hindi is मोटा (moṭā). See Thick meaning in Hindi.
How do you use thick in a sentence?
JJ loved “average hood girls”, Cody loved dark-skinned thick girls and Mooch lusted for yellow-boned skinny woman.
What part of speech is thick?
Thick can be an adjective, an adverb, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce thick?
Thick is pronounced /θɪk/ (UK).

Words near thick in the dictionary

  1. thic
  2. thicc
  3. thiccer
  4. thiccest
  5. thiccness
  6. thick
  7. thick and fast
  8. thick and thin
  9. thick and threefold
  10. thick around the middle
  11. thick as a brick

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thick (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-thick.ogg.

Cite this entry: “thick.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thick. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.