stringy

/ˈstrɪŋi/

/ˈstrɪŋgi/

Other forms: stringily; stringier

Anything stringy is made of skinny strands. Some vegetables, like celery or spaghetti squash, are stringy. Long straight hair that hasn’t been washed in awhile can also get stringy.

If you have to chew extra hard to make it through a piece of meat, it's stringy. And people who are long, lean, and strong are sometimes described as stringy, or as having stringy muscles. This connection between string and tendons or ligaments can also be seen in words like hamstring and heartstrings. Both string and stringy come from the Old English streng, "line or cord."

Definitions of stringy

1. adjective

   consisting of or containing string or strings
   synonyms:

   insubstantial, unreal, unsubstantial

   lacking material form or substance; unreal
2. adjective

   lean and sinewy
   synonyms: wiry

   lean, thin

   lacking excess flesh
3. adjective

   forming viscous or glutinous threads
   synonyms: ropey, ropy, thready

   thick

   relatively dense in consistency
4. adjective

   (of meat) full of sinews; especially impossible to chew
   synonyms: fibrous, sinewy, unchewable

   tough

   resistant to cutting or chewing