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Glite Dictionary
💪 Strong and muscular ⚡ Powerful style
muscly

muscly

1 4.8
Having a powerful, direct style that makes a strong impression
  • adjective
  • /ˈmʌsli/
  • Informal
translation icon : impactante
  • The film featured a muscly performance that left the audience spellbound with its powerful emotions.

Examples

  • In some ways, like food engineers are doing this so that when you bite into it, it feels muscly and sinewy, like sinews of mussels.

  • His muscly style of writing captivates readers by bringing intense action and drama to life.

  • If I can get across its look to you, it was a very strong, sturdy, muscly design of a building.

    Blog text (3)

  • This is gristly, muscly action, Stallone's aging sinews standing up remarkably well to the task of dispatching opponents fleshily against concrete, steel, and marble surfaces when he's not simply shooting them.

    Blog text (10)

  • The artist's work is known for its muscly themes, depicting raw power and energy in every canvas.

Synonyms

forceful
vsmuscly
62 4.3

Showing strong power and clear confidence in speech or actions

focuses on vigorous style and striking effect rather than subtlety
muscular
vsmuscly
12 3.0

Showing strong, forceful energy in action or style

applies to stylistic force and impact, not only physical strength
punchy
vsmuscly
4 4.4

A strong, clear style that grabs attention

is more about raw power and broad impact than brief attention grabbing

Antonyms

subtle
276 6.0

Not easy to notice or understand because it is small

gentle
235 1.0

Kind and not strong in action, sound, or touch

How Forceful

powerful
∞ 3.0
muscly
  • Informal
1 4.8
direct
302 3.5
measured
4.1
subtle
276 6.0

Surface Forms

muscly positive
musclyer comparative
musclyest superlative

Morphology

muscly = muscle (semi-transparent) = muscle + y

The adjective is a metaphorical extension from physical strength to forceful or powerful style, so the relation is clear but figurative.

Etymology

The word muscly comes from muscle, from the Latin musculus meaning 'little mouse', and the ending -y meaning 'full of'. A helpful way to remember the non-physical sense is to think of giving something 'muscle', that is, power or force, so muscly can mean 'forceful' or powerful rather than subtle.