gossamer means tenuous, light, filmy or delicate. It carries an Arena rating of 1643, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, gossamer ranks #960 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #1,347 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,238 of 14,297 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,317 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words.
gossamer is pronounced /ˈɡɒ.sə.mə/.
Why “gossamer” is a great word
Gossamer is the finest, most delicate filmy substance, either the cobwebs seen floating in still air or a thing of extreme, ethereal lightness and insubstantiality. From Middle English gossomer, gosesomer (c. 1300), from gos ("goose") + somer ("summer"), originally referring to a period of warm, still weather in late autumn (St. Martin's summer) when such cobwebs are common, and by association likened to goose down. Unlike "diaphanous" (which specifies a sheer, transparent quality) or "flimsy" (which implies a disappointing weakness), gossamer describes an exquisite, buoyant fragility that is its own virtue. It is the single strand of spider-silk that catches the first and last light, the silver thread trembling between two thistles at dusk, or the downy drift of autumn spiders riding the breeze toward nowhere—fragile, yes, but persistent in its quiet grace, as if the world exhales small wonders when no one is watching.
Etymology
From Middle English gossomer, gosesomer, gossummer (attested since around 1300, and only in reference to webs or other light things), usually thought to derive from gos (“goose”) + somer (“summer”) and to have initially referred to a period of warm weather in late autumn when geese were eaten — compare Middle Scots goesomer, goe-summer (“summery weather in late autumn; St Martin's summer”) and dialectal English go-harvest, both later connected in folk-etymology to go — and to have been transferred to cobwebs because they were frequent then or because they were likened to goose-down. Skeat says that in Craven the webs were called summer-goose, and compares Scots and dialectal English use of summer-colt in reference to "exhalations seen rising from the ground in hot weather". Weekley notes t
adj
- Tenuous, light, filmy or delicate.“There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.”
noun
- A fine film made up of cobwebs, seen floating in the air or caught on bushes, etc.“A lover may bestride the gossamer / That idles in the wanton summer air, / And yet not fall; so light is vanity.”
- A soft, sheer fabric.“Madame wiped the picture with her gossamer handkerchief and impulsively pressed a tender kiss upon the painted canvas.”
- Anything delicate, light and flimsy.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- cobweb 83% match — A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads. vs gossamer →
- diaphanous 83% match — Transparent or translucent; allowing light to pass through; capable of being seen through. vs gossamer →
- ethereal 82% match — Pertaining to the presupposition of an invisible air-like element permeating all of space, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere. vs gossamer →
- evanescent 82% match — Disappearing, vanishing. vs gossamer →
- diaphanousness 81% match — The quality of being diaphanous. vs gossamer →
- subtle 81% match — Senses relating to tangible things.; Of an action or movement: very delicate or slight, and thus barely noticeable; not obvious; inconspicuous, unintrusive. vs gossamer →
- diaphane 81% match — Something transparent. vs gossamer →
- brume 80% match — Mist, fog, vapour. vs gossamer →