These adjectives apply to leanness that is emphasized by height, length of limb, or awkwardness of bearing. A lanky person is tall, thin and long-limbed, being typically loose-jointed: a tall, lanky fellow; a lanky basketball player. Gangling is closely synonymous with lanky but implies greater awkwardness, as from disproportionate growth of the limbs during adolescence: a gangling , ungainly girl, all arms and legs.

• He hurried towards me with long, gangling strides.

Rangy carries no hint of gracelessness but stresses build. It was originally applied to animals having lengthy bodies and long limbs and therefore well adapted for roving: rangy cattle. Now it is also used of slim and long-legged human beings: a rangy stockman; rangy runners in an athletic team.

Angular presupposes prominent bones and suggests sharp edges: angular features; an angular adolescent. Along with bony leanness, it often indicates unprepossessing stiffness – whether evinced in awkward, jerky movements or in an unbending manner. Hence, when angular is applied to tall, thin females, it signals the absence of such womanly attributes as roundness, softness, pliancy and grace: an angular headmistress with a cold eye and forbidding aspect. Raw-boned is usually used of men and emphasizes a big, bony, often awkward frame. A raw-boned person has a prominent bone structure and little flesh, but may be sturdily made though spare and angular . Row-boned carries the suggestion of crudity in build, of sharp or knobby bones jutting out: a ruddy, row-boned recruit.

The last two adjectives focus on abnormal leanness rather than a naturally lanky or bony build. Spindling describes a form that is so long and thin, so very slender, that it seems markedly out of proportion: The old man looked like an apparition – a tall, spindling wraith. Spindly adds to spindling the suggestion of physical weakness and frailty, describing a combination of height or length and matchstick thinness: a spindly invalid, pitifully wasted away; a child unable to stand on his spindly little legs. Spindly may also be used of a fragile, limblike, appendage of a machine: the spindly , aluminium legs of the spacecraft.