big-boned
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of big-boned
First recorded in 1600–10
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.
As the American painter recalled years later, Borger in the 1920s was a settlement of “rough shacks, oil rigs, pungent stinks from gas pockets, and broad-faced, big-boned Texas oil speculators.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
These big-boned people pursued a semi-nomadic life on the steppes, tamed animals, kept domestic cattle and moved over large areas using horses and carts.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2024
Buttercup is a big-boned gal — body positive! — just trying to live in her truth.
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2021
You dislike euphemisms for fatness like "big" or "big-boned."
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2016
She was not curvy or big-boned; she was fat, it was the only word that felt true.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
