What does "thin-slicing" mean?

The process or ability of making quick (and often accurate) inferences about the state or characteristics of someone or something based only on minimal information or experience (“thin slices”).

Thin-slicing

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The process or ability of making quick (and often accurate) inferences about the state or characteristics of someone or something based only on minimal information or experience (“thin slices”). uncountable
""Thin-slicing" refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience. […] Thin-slicing is not an exotic gift. It is a central part of what it means to be human."

Verb

1
present participle and gerund of thin-slice form-of, gerund, participle, present

Example

More examples

""Thin-slicing" refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience. […] Thin-slicing is not an exotic gift. It is a central part of what it means to be human."

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