Definition

Adverb: To a height level with a person's waist.

Usage

Describes the vertical extent or depth of something, typically a substance like water, grass, or snow, reaching up to the level of an average person's waist.

Examples

• The floodwaters in the street were waist-high.
• We had to wade through waist-high grass to reach the old cabin.
• After the heavy snowfall, the drifts were waist-high.

Advanced Usage

• Hyphenation: The term is almost always hyphenated when used attributively (before a noun), as in "waist-high water." It may sometimes be written without a hyphen when used predicatively, though hyphenation is still common.
• Comparative/Figurative Use: Can be used in a comparative or figurative sense to emphasize abundance or immersion.
  • The paperwork on his desk was waist-high.
  • She found herself waist-high in trouble.

Variants and Related Words

• Waist-deep: A near-synonymous adverb/adjective, often used interchangeably with "waist-high," though it can more strongly imply being immersed in a substance.
• Knee-high: Describing something reaching up to the knee.
• Chest-high: Describing something reaching up to the chest.

Synonyms

• Midthigh (though less common and not precisely equivalent)
• Up to the waist

Related Phrases

• (Standing) waist-high in [something]: A common phrase to describe being surrounded or immersed.
  • He was standing waist-high in the river, fishing.

Adverb

1. up to the waist
   • the water rose waist-high