Dictionary

thinsplain en · VERB

Etymology

From thin + -splain, after the pattern of mansplain.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, informal) To explain to a fat person (as a thin person) in a condescending manner, presuming the listener's inferior understanding.
   • As someone who is currently unlikely to be perceived as a person of size, I risked thinsplaining throughout this research process. 2019, Braelin Pantel, "Students of Size: An Exploratory Case Study on a Hidden Climate", University of Northern Colorado, page 78
   • The two strategies I rely on for avoiding thinsplaining are related: first, to listen carefully (“listen thrice before speaking once”) to the voices of the writers of this remarkable collection of stories, […] 2014, Daniel S. Goldbert, "Fatness, Medicalization, and Stigma: On the Need to Do Better", Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Volume 4, Number 2, Summer 2014, page 117
   • And now he has turned his attention to obesity, by which I mean he thinsplains it. […] You see, thinsplains Callahan, because nothing else seems to be working, we must turn to making obese people feel bad about themselves in order to shed the pounds. […] This isn’t evidence-based public policy, it’s organized bullying masquerading as being cruel to be kind. It’s not bioethics, it’s thinsplaining. 2013 January 15, Dan O'Connor, “Dan Callahan Thinsplains Obesity”, in Berman Institute Bioethics Bulletin, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2014, retrieved 28 Apr 2013:
   • When "thin girl" thinsplains about her woes of gaining weight and calls herself "ugly and fat" in response to her body changing […], it suggests that, for one, she equates fat with ugly, and also that she is unaware of others' experiences of fat stigma. 2021, Judith Bridges, “Explaining '-splain' in digital discourse”, in Language Under Discussion, volume 6, number 1, page 21:

Forms