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
- chunkily adverb
- chunkiness noun
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.
Therefore a chunky tenth of a fund in gold is quite an emphatic call, even if many funds have been raising their gold holdings in the last couple of years.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 27, 2026
The glasses—with chunky frames embedded with cameras and microphones—are the way Zuckerberg imagines AI will be democratized for personal users.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026
Jewellery was prominent, including huge pendant necklaces and chunky gold pieces.
From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026
We especially enjoyed the chunky guacamole served with crispy pork belly, the yellowfin tuna tostados served with a pepita salsa matcha, and the butterflied bronzino served with a tomato avocado salsa and house-made tortillas.
From Salon • Feb. 2, 2026
Emma worked the phone, Horace fished our last few coins from his pocket, and Millard paged through a chunky phone book that dangled from a cord.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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.
