adjective
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big and strong
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characterized by vigour or force
a hefty blow
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large, bulky, or heavy
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sizable; involving a large amount of money
a hefty bill
a hefty wage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of hefty
Explanation
Something that's hefty is big and heavy. When you have to lug a hefty suitcase around, it helps if it has wheels. Hefty objects are large and bulky, and you can describe people as hefty when they're big and brawny and strong. When you buy a hefty bag of dog food for your hefty bull mastiff, you might want to ask a hefty young employee if she'll help you carry it to your car. Hefty comes from heft, which means both "to lift" and "weight or heaviness."
Vocabulary lists containing hefty
The Omnivore's Dilemma
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The Wednesday Wars
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Hello, Universe
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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.
See Examples For:
Investment fell slightly, dragged down by a hefty fall in the field of machinery and equipment.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
Now, there are a handful of other AI companies capturing investor attention as they rake in hefty profits.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
The computational and informational resources involved in these calculations are hefty.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
Wellness has become a bit of a buzzword - and one that often comes with a hefty price tag.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
He spread it happily on some whole-wheat, flax-enriched bread and took a hefty bite.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
“Chonkers” is a Steller sea lion, which is a heftier variety of the species, compared to his California sea lion counterparts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
We’re facing problems heftier than choosing whether to watch a morally dubious show about a magical boy and his friends.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026
Heading into this year, some Wall Street analysts expected heftier tax refunds as a result of President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act to free up consumer spending.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026
The Ibex is built on a Ford F-250 Super Duty, the heftier cousin of the popular F-150 pickup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
People were everywhere; some working in the quarry itself, others scattered about the hillside; the heftier among the men splitting boulders, the women and children chipping fragments off the larger stones.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
The heftiest chunk of her pay comes from a nontaxable stipend travel nurses earn to cover their living expenses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Consuming such large amounts of food can lead to massive weight increases, with the spring cubs like 806 Jr seeing some of the heftiest jumps.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2023
In other words, like sauropods in general, the heftiest sauropods occupied somewhat different ecological niches from one another.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 15, 2023
The generalized fourth-power law explains why road damage is disproportionately inflicted by the heftiest vehicles.
From Slate ● Jun. 28, 2023
“For a little guy, you’re the heftiest eater I ever saw.”
From The Radio Boys Rescue the Lost Alaska Expedition by Gerald Breckenridge
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.
