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stocky

stocky

20 2.8
Short and wide in body with a solid build
  • adjective
  • /ˈstɑːki/
translation icon : fornido
  • The man was short and stocky, gray-haired, and wearing a fedora.
  • a stocky man

I don't know doing that was like that white lad, pretty stocky, smallish, pacey good.

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Examples

  • Al-Bukhari was a stocky, slightly plump man in his mid-thirties, his short beard already going gray.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • The boy's height and stocky, powerful build showed that he was maturing rapidly.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • And then another guy, big, stocky fellow with a crew cut.

  • "I see some new faces here tonight," the short stocky woman continued.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I'm kind of a stocky guy.

  • He's quite a stocky man.

  • The older of the two was a stocky man in his early forties.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • There, to his left, he saw the stocky young woman in shorts, loping towards him, not forty yards away.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Myra, dressed expensively and fashionably, sits with Gloucester Hebbing, a stocky businessman in his sixties.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • He's quite a stocky man with broad shoulders.

Synonyms

thick
vsstocky
88 1.0

Having a solid wide body or wide arms and legs

focuses on whole-body shortness and sturdiness rather than curviness
compact
vsstocky
60 4.1

Small and tightly packed so it does not take much space

refers to a broader, heavier build rather than small and tight form
beefy
vsstocky
16 4.0

A large strong person or animal with big, heavy muscles

highlights solid broad form rather than muscular size or strength
chunky
vsstocky
14 3.4

Short and thick in shape, with a strong, solid look

is broader, meaning a solid and wide build often with short height
heavyset
vsstocky
12 3.5

A person with a large, solid body and wide shoulders

is similar but focuses on broad solidity rather than weight alone
dumpy
vsstocky
  • Offensive
5 5.0

Short and thick in build, often making a person or animal look clumsy

describes a solid, broad build without implying unattractiveness
squatty
vsstocky
1 5.9

Being short and low with a thick, sturdy shape

emphasizes overall breadth and solidity rather than low height
thickset
vsstocky
1 4.7

A person or animal who has a short, strong body

is the everyday term for a broad, solid build

Antonyms

60 1.0

Thin and with little body fat

How Stocky

massive
236 3.1
burly
24 4.6
heavyset
12 3.5
stocky
20 2.8
stout
4 3.8

Surface Forms

stocky positive
stockier comparative
stockiest superlative

Morphology

stocky = stock (semi-transparent) = stock + y

The form is transparently stock + -y, but the relevant sense of 'stock' (stout trunk/body) is not highly frequent, so learners who know other senses of 'stock' may not infer 'stocky' immediately.

Etymology

The word stocky comes from stock, which once meant a 'stump' or 'tree trunk', plus the ending -y. So to be stocky is to be short and solid, like a strong trunk rather than tall and thin.