chubby
/ˈtʃʌbi
/adjective (chubbier, chubbiest)
Plump and rounded: a pretty child with chubby cheeks...
- The man carrying the knife was much shorter than his accomplice and was described as chubby with a red face.
- I felt sorry for the innumerable chubby people at the front who had to be gasping for air.
- It came as a shock to see how chubby he was as both a child and an early teenager.
Synonyms
plump, tubby, roly-poly, rotund, portly, stout, dumpy, chunky, broad in the beam, well upholstered, well covered, well padded, of ample proportions, ample, round, rounded, well rounded;
fat, overweight, fleshy, paunchy, pot-bellied, bulky;
buxom
informal pudgy, beefy, porky, blubbery, poddy
British informal podgy, fubsy
North American informal zaftig, corn-fed, lard-assed
archaic pursy
rare abdominous
Derivatives
chubbily
- She was a chubbily built woman with a pleasant countenance.
chubbiness
/ noun ...- Curly blond hair and chubbiness is also useful (although this is likely to have more influence on aunts and elderly neighbours than your parents).
- The red hair had turned auburn, and the chubbiness had turned to muscle.
- I felt oddly paternal, a sensation reinforced by his innocent features and his slight chubbiness.
Origin
Early 17th century (in the sense 'short and thickset, like a chub'): from chub.
This originally meant ‘short and thickset like a chub’, a chub (Late Middle English) being a thick-bodied European river fish. The origin of its name is unknown.