Thick
/θɪk/
adjectiveadverbA2
Definition
Thick describes something that is not thin; it has a large distance from one side to the other. It can be used for physical things like a thick book or thick hair, or for things like thick fog or thick sauce, meaning a lot or very dense.
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See It in Action
Having a large distance between two opposite sides
- •The book is very thick because it has many pages.
- •She cut a thick slice of bread for breakfast.
- •The walls of the castle were thick to protect against attacks.
Dense or heavy in texture or amount
- •The fog was so thick that we could not see the road.
- •He poured thick syrup on his pancakes.
- •Her hair is thick and shiny.
(Adverb) Describes how something happens in a strong or heavy way
- •The rain fell thick and fast all night.
- •Smoke rose thick from the chimney.
Make It Stick
- ✓Think of "thick" like "big" or "fat," but it talks about how wide or deep something is, not how tall or long
- ✓Picture a big book with many pages, or a slice of bread that is wide from top to bottom
- ✓It's the feeling of holding a heavy coat or seeing fog so dense that you can hardly see through it
- ✓Sounds like "THICK" → imagine a thick stick that is hard to break because it is wide and strong
- ✓Remember thick milkshake or thick hair that looks full and heavy
- ✓NOT like "thin" (small distance between sides), "thick" means the opposite, with a large distance
- ✓NOT like "long" (which means length), "thick" talks about width or depth
- ✓NOT like "light" (which means not heavy), "thick" often means heavy or dense
Try Other Words
- •Dense: closely packed or crowded (Use when talking about things like fog, forest, or materials that are tightly packed)
- •Heavy: having great weight (Use when talking about something that feels weighty or strong)
- •Wide: measuring a large distance from side to side (Use when focusing on the horizontal size)
- •Deep: large distance from top to bottom (Use when focusing on vertical size or depth)
Unboxing
- •Word parts: No prefix or suffix; root word "thick"
- •Etymology: Old English "þicc," meaning dense or solid
- •Historical development: Used since early English to describe objects with large width or density
- •Modern usage: Common adjective and adverb to describe size, density, or how something happens
- •Key insight: Simple word often used in everyday life for many physical and abstract ideas of size and density
Reflect & Connect
•How does the meaning of "thick" change when we talk about objects compared to weather or liquids?
•Can something be thick in one way but not in another, like thick hair but thin paper? How do we understand these differences?
Fill in the blanks
1.The book was so thick that it took ___ hours to finish reading.
2.When the fog is thick, drivers must ___ their speed to be safe.
3.She poured the syrup so thick that it ___ slowly on the pancakes.
4.His hair is thick and ___, making it hard to brush.
5.The rain fell thick and ___, causing the streets to flood quickly.
6.Thick walls help keep the house ___ in winter.
7.Unlike thin ice, thick ice can ___ the weight of a person safely.