Light-footed

adj, verb

adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of light-foot, ran. form-of, participle, past

    "We light-footed it out of there before we were caught."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Fast on one's feet, not plodding; nimble, agile.
Adjective
  1. 1
    (of movement) having a light and springy step wordnet

Example

More examples

"Walking somewhat slowly by reason of his concentration, the boy—an ancient man in some phases of thought, much younger than his years in others—was overtaken by a light-footed pedestrian, whom, notwithstanding the gloom, he could perceive to be wearing an extraordinarily tall hat, a swallow-tailed coat, and a watch-chain that danced madly and threw around scintillations of sky-light as its owner swung along upon a pair of thin legs and noiseless boots."

Etymology

From Middle English liȝtfoted, liht fotyd, alteration of earlier lyghtfote, liȝtt-fot (“light-footed”), equivalent to light + foot + -ed.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.