Skip to main content
knuckly

knuckly

1 7.5
Having large, noticeable joints on the fingers
  • adjective
: nudoso
  • Adam had big, knuckly hands, reflecting long years of hard labor.
  • knuckly hands

Examples

  • Adam had big, knuckly hands, reflecting long years of hard labor.

  • I don't move away when she reaches one knuckly drummer hand behind my neck, pulls me toward her, and kisses my lips.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Another Mother for Peace bends over Lydia's cart, grips two potatoes in one knuckly hand.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • To the right, it lumbers up a rough clay bank held back by rock outcroppings and the knuckly clutches of huge root systems.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The first three were black-haired, strapping boys grown into men with laughs that started in their chests, knuckly wrists, and thick, long legs.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Another Mother for Peace bends over Lydia's cart, grips two potatoes in one knuckly hand.

  • The first three were black-haired, strapping boys grown into men with laughs that started in their chests, knuckly wrists, and thick, long legs.

Synonyms

knobby
vsknuckly
5 5.8

Something that has small rounded bumps like a potato

describes prominent joint areas specifically rather than general surface bumps

How Prominent

bony
31 2.5
knuckly
1 7.5
rounded
45 2.4
smooth
224 1.0

Surface Forms

knuckly positive

Morphology

knuckly = knuckle (transparent) = knuckle + y

Regular noun-to-adjective formation: 'knuckle' + '-y' yields 'having or characterized by knuckles'.

Etymology

Knuckly comes from the everyday word knuckle, which names the joint at the base of your finger, and the ending -ly that means 'having' or 'full of'. So, knuckly means 'having' large or noticeable knuckles, a useful image for hands with big, bumpy joints.