adjective
-
thick and short
-
consisting of or containing thick pieces
chunky dog food
-
(of clothes, esp knitwear) made of thick bulky material
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of chunky
Explanation
Something that's full of little lumps and bits is chunky. Some people are crazy about chunky peanut butter, while others prefer it to be smooth and creamy. Some kinds of soup are chunky, with hunks of potato and pieces of broccoli, and you can also make a chunky spaghetti sauce that's full of tomato bits. When a person is described as chunky, it means they're dense and thick-bodied, and sometimes quite muscular. Chunky is an American English word, from the sense of chunk as "a thick piece of something,"
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.
Campbell’s said that tariff-related price increases weighed on its ready-to-serve soup business, which include its Chunky and Homestyle brands.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
I passed by all the time — sneaking a Chunky bar at the corner liquor store, grabbing an ice cream cone from Baskin-Robbins.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025
They include not crossing one’s legs, not eating soup in public – sorry to all those NFL spokesmen for Campbell’s Chunky, I guess – and the straw ban.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2025
An estimated 45,000 tons of wastewater is spilled around Donaghadee each year, but the Chunky Dunkers are a hardy bunch.
From BBC • Apr. 23, 2024
“Why yes, yes I will go back and help myself to that Chunky Monkey in your freezer, too.”
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
