knobbly
Britishadjective
Explanation
If something's lumpy and misshapen, you can describe it as knobbly. Don't throw out those knobbly potatoes from your garden — they're ugly, but they'll taste perfectly fine! If a camper pitches her tent over a bumpy patch of ground, she'll feel all of those knobbly roots and rocks through her sleeping bag later. This adjective, a variation on knobby, comes from knob, "rounded lump or bump." That gnarled oak tree in your yard is knobbly, and so are your little sister's bony knees.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The only difficulty is peeling them, but just cut the knobbly bit off and peel it separately."
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
They would feel just like a sticker, while patches with a silicon-based chip always feel knobbly.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
Kyle Kuzma sat in a knobbly, cropped black sweater after the game — the sartorial opposite of the oversized pink number memorialized on his bobblehead.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 15, 2023
The figures are bald, knobbly, twisted by age; they don’t look friendly; their severity and queerness put them at some distance from the serene bodhisattvas you may know.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2022
It was a lie; he hadn’t bought anything for Dobby at all, 'but he quickly opened his trunk and pulled out a particularly knobbly rolled-up pair of socks.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
