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Glite Dictionary
muscle-bound

muscle-bound

6 6.2
Large stiff muscles that make it hard to move
  • adjective
  • /ˈmʌsəlˌbaʊnd/
: musculoso
  • The muscle-bound bodybuilder had difficulty fitting into his car due to his large frame.

Why is it that the person spotting for someone else does not have to be as muscle bound as the person lifting the weights?

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Examples

  • After months of working out, he became quite muscle-bound and struggled to touch his toes.

  • Yes, yes, she was like, who's that tall muscle bound man over there?

    IMPAULSIVE

  • And I feel the same about you, you big, muscle-bound galoot.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • For example, I began one article like this: "Imagine facing a tattooed, muscle-bound giant in the cell of a local prison."

    Academic text (2008)

  • When most of us think about training, we tend to think of muscle-bound guys sweating in the gym.

    Blog text (4)

  • As if they were so tremendously muscle-bound they couldn't quite make their limbs operate in the normal way.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • A muscle-bound building boss who came home from a New Year's Eve fancy dress party kitted out as Thor scared off a burglar by charging at him in his superhero outfit.

    Blog text (25)

  • We see in this chapter that he is not just a muscle-bound barbarian, but also fairly conversant in guerrilla tactics and psychology, in addition to having fairly solid long-term goals and plans on how to achieve them.

    Blog text (30)

  • Even though he was muscle-bound, he found that his tight muscles limited his ability to play sports.

Synonyms

musclebound
vsmuscle-bound
1 6.6

Having very large, stiff muscles that make movement hard, or not being flexible in thinking

focuses on physical size and stiffness that reduce flexibility

Antonyms

flexible
46 3.4

Able to bend easily without breaking and return to shape

agile
26 3.7

Able to move quickly and easily like a gymnast

How Stiff

muscle-bound
6 6.2
rigid
37 4.0
bulky
34 2.3
muscular
55 2.8
toned
16 2.9
flexible
46 3.4

Surface Forms

muscle-bound positive

Morphology

muscle-bound = muscle + bound (semi-transparent) = muscle + bound

Formed by compounding 'muscle' + 'bound' where the components are clear but the idiomatic sense 'excessively muscular and stiff' is a specific extension of 'bound' that learners may not infer exactly.

Etymology

The word muscle-bound comes from the two simple parts muscle and bound; muscle goes back to the Latin word musculus meaning 'little mouse' because muscles were thought to look like small mice under the skin, and bound means 'tied' or 'held'. So muscle-bound gives the picture of muscles so big and tight they 'tie' the body and make it hard to move easily.