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:
I certainly haven’t noticed that modern television is overflowing with strapping, brawny men, some sporting magnificent beards or manly manes on their heads, atop bodies as smooth as Barbie dolls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Roger Sweet, the toymaker who designed the brawny superhero He-Man, has died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
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
But he was also a brawny man, and his grip was as inescapable as Falconer's.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
The result is that eastern coyotes are a bit brawnier than those out west.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 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
Its forthright cheerfulness comes as a challenge to those of us still hung up on the brawnier, more shocking image of modernity Manet forged two decades earlier with “Déjeuner” and “Olympia.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2019
Clement, the brawnier and gigglier one, agrees: “Yeah, we love doing it, but we wouldn’t watch it.”
From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2018
In that castle, men altogether different from us were swayed by passions stronger than ours; their hands were brawnier and their chests broader.
From Over Strand and Field by Gustave Flaubert
At a time where everybody is seeking power, the Rays can’t afford a lineup loaded with the brawniest sluggers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
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
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
There is one other catch, and it weighs heavily on the pivotal task of recruiting the nation’s brawniest and fastest high school football players, an oft-pampered group wooed with all manner of enticements.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2012
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.
