knobby

American  

[nob-ee] / ˈnɒb i /

adjective

knobbier, knobbiest

1. full of or covered with knobs.

   the knobby trunk of a tree.

2. shaped like a knob.

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knobby British  

/ ˈnɒbɪ /

adjective

1. having or covered with small knobs; knobbly

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Other Word Forms

• knobbiness noun

Etymology

Origin of knobby

First recorded in 1535–45; knob + -y ¹

Example Sentences

“That’s good,” he said, before pointing a knobby finger at me.

From Slate • Oct. 24, 2024

It’s dawn, and someone is crouching near the rows, cutting heads of lettuce, pulling up a few carrots, unearthing a white knobby thing and bringing it all indoors.

From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2024

Pepper X has been in the works since Currie last set the hottest pepper record in 2013 with the Carolina Reaper, a bright red knobby fruit with what aficionados call a scorpion tail.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 16, 2023

The spike proteins, which form the knobby protrusions coming off the main body of the virus, are like a key that the virus uses to unlock our cells, which is how a new infection begins.

From Salon • Sep. 14, 2023

She saw cloth bags in knobby mounds; they looked like gnomes but were not gnomes.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston