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flabby

flabby

20 3.7
Soft and loose areas of the body without firm muscle
  • adjective
  • /ˈflæbi/
translation icon : flácido
  • Her arms were spread like flabby wings, and her skin was pale and doughy-looking, bunched beneath her swimsuit.

Why does it have to become this weak, pale, flabby, vulnerable thing that is the child?

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Examples

  • I soap his smooth chest, and the movement of my hand pulls the flabby skin down over his ribs.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • I know you think my arms are flabby.

  • And big, flabby grandma arms.

  • You just look like smaller but flabbier, if that makes sense.

  • Fat to thin, unhealthy to healthy, flabby to fit.

  • I opened my eyes and looked into the face of a pallid, flabby man of fifty-two.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • And you do have a flabby tummy, so we'll need to spend some time strengthening your diaphragm.

  • His mother's belly is flabby, with curving wrinkles as well.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He's a tall, avuncular man with a flabby belly and Arrow shirts: an accountant.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • After weeks of inactivity, his arms became flabby and weak.

Synonyms

soft
vsflabby
552 1.0

Easily pressed when you touch it

is about weak, loose body tissue and lack of muscle tone not touch quality
flaccid
vsflabby
14 7.3

Soft and limp, without firmness or strength

is looser and shows poor muscle condition rather than simple limpness

Antonyms

fit
91 1.0

Being in good physical and mental health

2.9

With firm, well shaped muscles from regular exercise

How Firm

firm
30 1.0
flabby
20 3.7
flaccid
14 7.3
saggy
12 3.5

Surface Forms

flabby positive
flabbier comparative
flabbiest superlative

Morphology

flabby = flab (transparent) = flab + y

Formed by the noun 'flab' + the productive adjectival suffix '-y'; learners who know 'flab' can readily infer 'flabby' as 'having flab / soft'.

Etymology

Flabby probably comes from an older word flab meaning 'loose' and it sounds like the simple word 'flap'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine soft skin or muscle that can 'flap' when you move, and that's why flabby means soft, loose, and lacking firmness.