cuddly
Americanadjective
-
cuddlier,
comparative
-
cuddliest
superlative
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cuddly
Explanation
Something (or someone) that's soft, snuggly, and huggable is cuddly. Your pet rabbit is so cuddly that you wish you could bring her to school, so you'd be able to hold and hug her all day long. Some people are naturally cuddly, either because they love to hug you, or because they're particularly plump and comfortable. The same is true for animals and dolls — there are some things that seem to be made for cuddling. Cuddly comes from the adorable word cuddle, which probably stems from the obsolete verb cull, "to embrace," or possibly the Middle English couth, "known" or "comfortable with."
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:
Leveraging cuteness to sell products isn’t exactly a new phenomenon — just ask the toy industry, which thrives on getting kids and young adults invested in collecting new cute or cuddly products.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026
Half a century ago, the bears introduced to the U.S. a warm, cuddly image of a China that had been seen to embody stark authoritarianism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“She was a bright, cuddly, sparkly person,” Leffler said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
In South Korea, cuddly ChatGPT-powered dolls are used in some care homes, while a lamp-like AI device called ElliQ offers similar companionship and safety-monitoring services.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
She dried her in fluffy white towels and put her in cuddly night clothes.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
“Kinds of Kindness” is a return to a certain form of form, if you will, for the director Yorgos Lanthimos, fresh off his warmer, cuddlier films “The Favourite” and “Poor Things.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
If you really want a sandwich, I’d turn your attention to two other options, the Nashville and its cuddlier cousin, the Atlanta.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 27, 2021
That’s masterful marketing by the Flyers, though it’s still tempting to believe they’ll proclaim the whole thing a joke at some point and introduce a cuddlier mascot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2018
This is an elegant fix that allows the public to consume real-time audio with the added benefit of felt creatures that will be far cuddlier than Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2017
Elsie was sweet as honey and cuddlier than a kitten.
From Bloom of Cactus by Ralph P. (Ralph Pallen) Coleman
So that’s the mechanism that could explain a precipitous drop in how long your cuddliest family member could live.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2023
"She's not the cuddliest person in the world, but it's just a different show now and she's making it her own," the programme's maths guru Rachel Riley told Lorraine recently.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2021
Mostly, though, the former Beatle was providing the kind of inoffensive good vibes that have made him perhaps rock’s cuddliest superstar over the last half-century.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2016
We’d pick Cumberbatch or Gyllenhaal for sheer, acute audacity, but Redmayne’s is certainly the cuddliest of the five.
From Time ● Jan. 9, 2015
They would have made for great pop novelty smashes in the 1990s — no insult — but now just make Breathe Carolina the cuddliest of the Warped Tour class.
From New York Times ● Sep. 3, 2011
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.
