adjective
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thick and short
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consisting of or containing thick pieces
chunky dog food
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(of clothes, esp knitwear) made of thick bulky material
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of chunky
Explanation
Something that's full of little lumps and bits is chunky. Some people are crazy about chunky peanut butter, while others prefer it to be smooth and creamy. Some kinds of soup are chunky, with hunks of potato and pieces of broccoli, and you can also make a chunky spaghetti sauce that's full of tomato bits. When a person is described as chunky, it means they're dense and thick-bodied, and sometimes quite muscular. Chunky is an American English word, from the sense of chunk as "a thick piece of something,"
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:
A cheeky, chunky little fellow with an exuberant smile.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Make the filling: Pulse the cream cheese, Parmesan, giardiniera and herbs in a food processor until chunky and spreadable, not smooth.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Goodbye Nike NKE -2.89%decrease; down pointing triangle Air Jordans, hello Asics’s 7936 -1.42%decrease; down pointing triangle chunky dad sneakers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The chunky piano house groove even includes a callback to Madonna's Express Yourself.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Mrs. Malvolio asked with a nervous giggle that made her chunky necklace clatter.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
Did “Étoile” scripts feel any bigger or chunkier than “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” or “Gilmore Girls”?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
It is not uncommon to puree this soup, but generally each bowl would then be garnished with a whole oyster or two and some chunkier bits of artichoke.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2024
The stitches are bigger, so chunkier yarn is used, and this means blankets can be knitted more quickly than in traditional knitting.
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2024
From others it seems an elegant high-tech cousin of the Transamerica Pyramid, the chunkier building across the bay.
From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2023
Weight about equals that of robin, but the starling, with its short, drooping tail, is chunkier in appearance.
From Bird Neighbors An Introductory Acquaintance with One Hundred and Fifity Birds Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes by Neltje Blanchan
Elliott Hill is trying to regain Nike’s NKE -1.29%decrease; red down pointing triangle lead in the innovation race—and its chunkiest running shoe ever may be the model for getting there, he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
Cut a slice and cozy up under your chunkiest throw blanket.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2022
And Boris Johnson has used this occasion to make big changes to the cabinet - the most significant switch coming in one of the chunkiest jobs of all.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2021
And right bang in the center is the chunkiest button of them: the home button, complete with the McLaren logo etched on the front.
From The Verge ● Dec. 29, 2017
The non-essential players are ushered back into the room just as Mrs. Whistler — which at 6-foot-1 by 6-foot-8 Togneri calls "the chunkiest" of the three paintings — is hoisted onto the wall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2015
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.
