flabby

[flab-ee]

adjective

flabbier, flabbiest 

1. hanging loosely or limply, as flesh or muscles; flaccid.

2. having such flesh.

3. lacking strength or determination.

flabby

/ ˈflæbɪ /

adjective

1. lacking firmness; loose or yielding

   flabby muscles

2. having flabby flesh, esp through being overweight

3. lacking vitality; weak; ineffectual

Other Word Forms

• flabbily adverb
• flabbiness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of flabby¹

1690–1700; apparently expressive alteration of earlier flappy, with same sense; flap, -y ¹; compare late Middle English flabband (attested once), evidently with sense “flapping”

Word History and Origins

Origin of flabby¹

C17: alteration of flappy , from _flap + _-y ¹ ; compare Dutch flabbe drooping lip

Example Sentences

Too much leads to flabby and underdeveloped minds.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Instead of a skeleton and scales, the blobfish has a soft body and flabby skin.

Read more on BBC

There’s no method here that will render it crispy and browned, and no one wants to cut through flabby chicken skin.

Read more on Salon

At a hefty 2 hours and 24 minutes, the film is flabby, not jacked, and lacking in an unpredictable live-wire element.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They are short, tall, flabby, lean, clean-shaven, bearded, bald and pony-tailed.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• lax 
• sloppy