Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - thick

(thicker, thickest) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Something that is thick has a large distance between its two opposite sides. For breakfast I had a thick slice of bread and syrup... This material is very thick and this needle is not strong enough to go through it. ? thin ADJ • thickly Slice the meat thickly. ADV: ADV with v 2. You can use thick to talk or ask about how wide or deep something is. The folder was two inches thick... How thick are these walls? ADJ: n ADJ, how ADJ, amount ADJ, as ADJ as • Thick is also a combining form. His life was saved by a quarter-inch-thick bullet-proof steel screen. COMB in ADJ: ADJ n • thickness (thicknesses) The size of the fish will determine the thickness of the steaks... N-VAR: oft N of n, N of amount, amount in N 3. If something that consists of several things is thick, it has a large number of them very close together. She inherited our father’s thick, wavy hair... They walked through thick forest. = dense ADJ • thickly I rounded a bend where the trees and brush grew thickly... ADV: ADV after v, ADV -ed 4. If something is thick with another thing, the first thing is full of or covered with the second. The air is thick with acrid smoke from the fires... ADJ: v-link ADJ with n 5. Thick clothes are made from heavy cloth, so that they will keep you warm in cold weather. In the winter she wears thick socks, Wellington boots and gloves... ? thin ADJ 6. Thick smoke, fog, or cloud is difficult to see through. The smoke was bluish-black and thick... ADJ 7. Thick liquids are fairly stiff and solid and do not flow easily. They had to battle through thick mud to reach construction workers... ADJ 8. If someone’s voice is thick, they are not speaking clearly, for example because they are ill, upset, or drunk. When he spoke his voice was thick with bitterness. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ • thickly ‘It’s all my fault,’ he mumbled thickly. ADV: ADV after v 9. A thick accent is very obvious and easy to identify. He answered our questions in English but with a thick accent... = strong ADJ: usu ADJ n 10. If you describe someone as thick, you think they are stupid. (BRIT INFORMAL) How could she have been so thick? = stupid ADJ: usu v-link ADJ c darkgreen]disapproval 11. If things happen thick and fast, they happen very quickly and in large numbers. The rumours have been coming thick and fast... PHRASE: PHR after v 12. If you are in the thick of an activity or situation, you are very involved in it. I enjoy being in the thick of things... PHRASE: PHR n, usu v-link PHR, PHR after v 13. If you do something through thick and thin, you do it although the conditions or circumstances are very bad. She’d stuck by Bob through thick and thin... PHRASE: PHR after v 14. a thick skin: see skin