adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bulky
Explanation
A giant box you need to carry to the post office, clothes you wear in the snow — both of these things are bulky or large and difficult to deal with. Inside the word bulky you see the word bulk which refers to the size of something, usually something large. When something is bulky, it has a lot of size or heft, though it is not necessarily heavy. Pillows, for example, are bulky. It's just big in an inconvenient way. Thick yarn, or a sweater made from thick yarn, is also said to be bulky. It's thicker than your average yarn.
Vocabulary lists containing bulky
Fish in a Tree
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The Boy Who Invented TV
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Everything, Everything
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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.
Bulky structures without chaperones are excluded from this portal because they are unable to connect with the gate-keeper proteins in the nuclear pore.
From Science Daily • Jan. 24, 2024
Bulky items can be reported for pickup — but with so many requests it’s impossible to figure out what exactly has been reported by trash day as the free-for-all dumping ground grows.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2023
Bulky comforters, blankets and extra pillows can be stored in under-the-bed bins or bags.
From Washington Post • Jan. 18, 2022
Bulky black Normatec sleeves — like a blood pressure cuff — help with circulation in the players’ legs.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 26, 2021
Bulky, with a strap to hang around your neck and a slim slot along its front, it was the kind of device that seemed ancient.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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.
