Skip to main content
pimply

pimply

9 2.5
Having many small raised spots on the skin, often on the face
  • adjective
  • /ˈpɪmpli/
translation icon : con granos
  • When she described the person, I remembered a pale, pimply, shy girl who had seemed, if anything, even worse off than I.
  • pimply face
  • pimply kid
  • pimply boy

I mean, it's walking home from school with, with my bassoon, my pimply face.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Confused, the pimply-faced kid picks up the phone.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The teenager was self-conscious about his pimply skin during his first date.

  • A pimply face is a pimply soul.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • "My face is a pimply mess and I don't know what to do."

  • Anyway, he was a scrawny, pimply kid, nothin' to write home about.

  • "It'll just be a minute, sir," the pimply kid sputtered.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • In high school, I was the heavy-faced sullen girl slouched in her desk, picking at her pimply face.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • A pimply boy looming over a stack of coffee cups took our orders for medium-rare ribeyes.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • And it must have got like on my eyelids and I was getting all these weird red bumps, like little pimply type things on my eyelids.

  • We walked over to the "Pro Shop," a counter manned by a pimply-faced adolescent in a "Bally's Reno Virtual Golf" sweatshirt.

    Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

pimpled
vspimply
1 3.0

Skin with small raised spots

has identical meaning but differs only in wording or form
acned
vspimply
1 6.9

Skin that has many pimples or small red spots

describes spots without implying a particular medical cause
bepimpled
vspimply
  • Archaic
7.5

Skin with many small raised spots, often on the face

refers to having such spots but not necessarily full facial coverage
papular
vspimply
  • Specialized
9.6

A skin condition with many small raised bumps

uses everyday language to describe those same raised bumps
pustulate
vspimply
  • Specialized
9.9

Skin that has many small pus-filled bumps

describes raised spots that are not specifically pus filled

Antonyms

256 1.0

A surface that is even and not rough

How Pimply

pustular
  • Specialized
1 8.3
pimply
9 2.5
blemished
1 4.1
smooth
256 1.0

Surface Forms

pimply positive

Morphology

pimply = pimple (transparent) = pimple + y

The adjective is directly formed from 'pimple' + the productive adjectival suffix '-y', meaning 'having pimples' or 'covered with pimples'.

Etymology

Pimply comes from the simple word pimple, meaning a small spot on the skin, plus the ending -y, which means 'full of' or 'having'. So pimply means 'having many small raised spots or blemishes on the skin, especially the face'.