corpulent
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of corpulent
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin corpulentus, equivalent to corp ( us ) body + -ulentus -ulent
Explanation
Corpulent is a formal word that describes someone who is very overweight. You might describe Santa Claus as a corpulent man with a ruddy complexion and a jolly grin. There are certainly many other ways to describe an overweight person: obese, portly, and stout are only a few. Corpulent is from Latin corpulentus, from corpus "body." The Latin suffix -ulentus, corresponding to English -ulent, has the meaning "full of, having in quantity."
Vocabulary lists containing corpulent
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Lord of the Flies
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Body Language: Corp ("Body")
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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.
The holiday’s corpulent, white-bearded dandy arrived even later, his schmaltzy persona skimmed from bony St. Nicholas between Reconstruction and 1931, when Coca-Cola debuted its iconic, brandy-flushed Santa Claus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025
Colombian artist Fernando Botero, who gained worldwide fame with his sculptures and paintings of corpulent figures, has died at the age of 91.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2023
As corpulent and as unwieldy as the film’s vision of London is — sluggish, lumbering and clumsy — the movie isn’t something you savor so much as swallow whole, without tasting it.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 12, 2018
A corpulent man wearing only a pink tutu stormed the ice rink at the Winter Olympics.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2018
“Come on, Washington,” the corpulent colonel broke in irascibly.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
