noun
Etymology
Origin of flab
First recorded in 1920–25; back formation from flabby
Explanation
Flab is extra flesh or fat on a person's body. Some people take up jogging in the hopes of reducing their flab. You might notice some extra flab on your belly after a long, inactive winter — even your dog may be carrying around a little flab. Exercise and eating well are the keys to getting rid of flab, if you're unhappy with it. The adjective flabby came before the noun flab, in the late 17th century as a variation on the word flappy, "softly fleshy" in the 1590s.
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.
Whatever you wanted out of yoga—inner peace, less flab around the middle, a bit of calm before a big meeting with your boss—was totally fine with her.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
And this is why his movies have one of the lowest B.M.I.s in the action business: He cuts the flab.
From New York Times • Sep. 29, 2021
Pinter, like Beckett, was preternaturally skilled at the art of compression, stripping his writing so that it was all lean muscle, no flab.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2017
For me, a far bigger problem is that it just doesn’t have much musical muscle tone, and a lot of flab.
From Washington Post • Jul. 22, 2016
Seabiscuit, already inclined toward portliness, was turning into one thousand pounds of flab.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
