knobbly

British  

/ ˈnɒblɪ /

adjective

1. having or covered with small knobs; bumpy

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Explanation

If something's lumpy and misshapen, you can describe it as knobbly. Don't throw out those knobbly potatoes from your garden — they're ugly, but they'll taste perfectly fine! If a camper pitches her tent over a bumpy patch of ground, she'll feel all of those knobbly roots and rocks through her sleeping bag later. This adjective, a variation on knobby, comes from knob, "rounded lump or bump." That gnarled oak tree in your yard is knobbly, and so are your little sister's bony knees.

Example Sentences

They would feel just like a sticker, while patches with a silicon-based chip always feel knobbly.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2024

The charity said Knobble's nickname was due to a "knobbly nubbin" on top of his dorsal fin.

From BBC • Oct. 26, 2023

Kyle Kuzma sat in a knobbly, cropped black sweater after the game — the sartorial opposite of the oversized pink number memorialized on his bobblehead.

From Washington Post • Jan. 15, 2023

The figures are bald, knobbly, twisted by age; they don’t look friendly; their severity and queerness put them at some distance from the serene bodhisattvas you may know.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

It was a lie; he hadn’t bought anything for Dobby at all, 'but he quickly opened his trunk and pulled out a particularly knobbly rolled-up pair of socks.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling