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Glite Dictionary
📝 To add details 🍑 To get rounder
to flesh out

to flesh out

1 6.2
To become rounder and fuller, usually by gaining weight
  • phrasal verb
  • /flɛʃ aʊt/
translation icon : engordar
  • It's this all-important Personal Quest where characters are fleshed out, where they re-examine their needs and desires, and where they show their moral fiber and determination in conquering their demons.

Examples

  • Then each of the new branches generates new lines to new bubbles and so on until you have fleshed out your idea in every direction.

    Blog text (8)

  • None of these characters are fleshed out.

    Blog text (8)

  • If you have an idea for a novel but it's not fleshed out, experiment with writing cover descriptions of the story.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Slimmed down and fleshed out.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Yet as Lois said, not in the way most people think, given that most people seem to think it was from a K/S story, or even from a fleshed-out Trek fanfic.

    Blog text (8)

  • On the downside, Henrik Ibsen's 1882 melodramatic (ally realistic) play features characters that represent themes but never seem like real, fleshed-out humans.

    Blog text (8)

  • As she entered her teenage years, Alice began to flesh out, becoming noticeably taller and healthier.

  • After months of training, the athlete began to flesh out, gaining muscle and improving her performance.

  • With a balanced diet, he started to flesh out, developing a more athletic figure as he matured.

Synonyms

to fatten
vsto flesh out
45 2.2

To make an animal gain weight and a sauce taste richer by giving more or richer food

focuses on becoming rounder naturally as part of growth rather than feeding
to fill out
vsto flesh out
14 2.8

To become or make something fuller by adding more

is limited to a person becoming rounder through weight gain or maturity
to fatten up
vsto flesh out
10 2.3

To give extra food so a person or animal gains weight

describes becoming rounder by weight or maturity without deliberate feeding

Antonyms

to slim down
5 3.0

To lose weight and become thinner

to lose fat
4 3.0

To reduce the fat on your body by eating less and exercising

How Plump

to plump up
1 4.5
to flesh out
1 6.2
to fill out
14 2.8

Surface Forms

flesh out infinitive
fleshed out past
fleshed out past participle
fleshing out present participle
fleshes out third person singular

Morphology

flesh + out

The components 'flesh' (body tissue; to add flesh) and 'out' (outward/completing) give a clear cue of becoming more fleshy or fuller, so a learner who knows the parts can form a plausible meaning. However, the verb 'flesh out' is more frequently used metaphorically to mean 'add detail', and particle-verb senses vary, so the bodily sense is only partially predictable and may be confused without exposure.

Etymology

The phrasal verb flesh out can also mean 'to become rounder' because it described how a person's body gains flesh and looks fuller as they grow or gain weight. So when someone 'fleshes out' they become more rounded or shapely.