brawny
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of brawny
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at brawn, -y 1
Explanation
Someone brawny is bulky and muscular. Most football players are brawny. Brawn refers to muscles and physical strength: people often contrast brains and brawn. Therefore, if someone is brawny, they have large muscles and are quite strong. Many athletes are brawny, especially ones such as weightlifters and football players. Tennis players and jockeys are usually smaller and not so brawny. A brawny person is big, strong, rugged, and tough. If you'd like to be brawnier, go to the gym.
Vocabulary lists containing brawny
Twelve Days in May
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The City of Ember
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Vigorous Vocab: Synonyms for "Strong"
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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.
See Examples For:
Compared to the world-class athletes and physical specimens who catch footballs for a living, the Seattle wideout isn’t especially brawny, tall, or speedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Key details: Consumer spending, the chief engine of the economy, grew at a brawny 3.5% rate in third quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
He’s also played by Cena, a retiring professional wrestler who embodies the white American male ideal – brawny, handsome, a good guy.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2025
Comedian Sean Patton plays Markie, the high school football coach, a brawny walking anachronism with surprising insights of his own.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2024
A cluster of brawny men stood up near him.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
Jackson is a sturdy defender when matched up against some of the Pac-12’s brawnier big men, and he makes good use of conventional post moves to provide the occasional scoring spark.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
The truth is, however, that the auto industry is addicted to sales of big, heavy gas-fueled SUVs and pickups, which are only becoming brawnier with every model year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2020
Clement, the brawnier and gigglier one, agrees: “Yeah, we love doing it, but we wouldn’t watch it.”
From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2018
They drew feverishly, combatively, each brother keenly aware of whose rib cage looked brawnier, who had rendered more beautiful shadows on his Neanderthal’s upper lip.
From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2017
Anne's husband, Henry Ransome, seemed, so far as very brief observation enabled me to judge, quite a different person from his much younger, as well as much bigger and brawnier associate.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 431 Volume 17, New Series, April 3, 1852 by Chambers, William
What is thought to be the world's debut bodybuilding contest, in 1901, saw 60 competitors trying to prove to a group of three judges who had the brawniest muscles.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2021
There have been exceptions, but by reputation the West has traditionally elevated the game as a more aesthetically pleasing form of entertainment while the East has prided itself as survival of the brawniest.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2015
From the stage, his brawniest hooks become stadium-grade singalongs, while his ballads offer an intimacy that can make the nosebleeds feel close.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2015
Stagg proved a brilliant formulator of X’s and O’s who likewise knew how to pluck the brawniest and nimblest from local high schools.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2011
He was the largest and brawniest of the boys and seemed to be their leader.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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.
