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Synonyms

flab

American  
[flab] / flæb /

noun

  1. flabby flesh; unwanted fat.

    Daily exercise will get rid of the flab around your waist.

  2. the condition of being flabby.

    Most of the new recruits had run to flab in civilian life.
flab British  
/ flæb /

noun

  1. unsightly or unwanted fat on the body; flabbiness

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of flab

First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from flabby

Explanation

Flab is extra flesh or fat on a person's body. Some people take up jogging in the hopes of reducing their flab. You might notice some extra flab on your belly after a long, inactive winter — even your dog may be carrying around a little flab. Exercise and eating well are the keys to getting rid of flab, if you're unhappy with it. The adjective flabby came before the noun flab, in the late 17th century as a variation on the word flappy, "softly fleshy" in the 1590s.

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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.