flabby

American  

[flab-ee] / ˈflæb i /

adjective

flabbier, flabbiest

1. hanging loosely or limply, as flesh or muscles; flaccid.

2. having such flesh.

3. lacking strength or determination.

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flabby British  

/ ˈflæbɪ /

adjective

1. lacking firmness; loose or yielding

   flabby muscles

2. having flabby flesh, esp through being overweight

3. lacking vitality; weak; ineffectual

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Other Word Forms

• flabbily adverb
• flabbiness noun

Etymology

Origin of flabby

1690–1700; apparently expressive alteration of earlier flappy, with same sense; flap, -y ¹; compare late Middle English flabband (attested once), evidently with sense “flapping”

Example Sentences

"I didn't recognise the men. Or this woman. Her cheek was so flabby. Her mouth so limp. She was like a rag doll," writes the 73-year-old, according to the French-language version.

From Barron's

"I didn't recognise the men. Or this woman. Her cheek was so flabby. Her mouth so limp. She was like a rag doll."

From Barron's

But if poetry is about saying a lot in a little—the fine art of distillation—then by the end of its two-hour runtime “A Poet” comes off more like funny but flabby prose.

From The Wall Street Journal

Meanwhile the narrator’s financially devious husband appears as a vulture with “the brooding eye, the blood-tipped beak, the flabby folds of flesh” of a bird of prey.

From The Wall Street Journal

Too much leads to flabby and underdeveloped minds.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• lax
• sloppy