in a way that creates a thin piece or layer of something

thinly sliced potatoes

thinly spread mustard over the meat

a board covered thinly with flour

with little flesh or fat on the body

he was tall and thinly built

with few parts or people relative to the area covered or filled; sparsely

resources are stretched thinly

people were thinly spread throughout the square

his thinly attended campaign launch

in a way that lacks strength, substance, or quality; weakly

the sun shines only thinly through a veil of water

a mishmash of thinly sketched characters

a thinly disguised autobiographical novel