paunchy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paunchy
Explanation
Someone who's paunchy has a round belly. If you're more paunchy than you used to be, you might want to invest in slightly larger, more comfortable clothes. This adjective is often used in a mildly derogatory way, to describe someone who carries a bit of extra weight around their middle. Has your vet put your dog on a diet? It might be because she's gotten a little paunchy. The word comes from paunch, "round stomach," from a root that simply means "belly or stomach."
Vocabulary lists containing paunchy
"Rosa Parks" by Nikki Giovanni
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Dear Justyce
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"The Silent Season of a Hero" by Gay Talese
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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.
At exercise time, a crowd gathered in the prison yard -- young and old, slender and paunchy, all with shaved heads.
From Barron's • Jan. 30, 2026
Obviously enjoying himself as well is George Lopez who plays Jaime’s paunchy uncle who is an unlikely techno-whiz and the purveyor of many one-liners.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 17, 2023
A paunchy, bespectacled, depressed widower with back pain, Farrell oozes melancholy as he checks into a hotel where he hopes to make a love match in 45 days or be turned into the titular animal.
From Salon • Mar. 10, 2023
There were meaty, hulking types and paunchy types and hard femme types like the “Pose” actor Jason A. Rodriguez.
From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2022
Her stomach was paunchy, but her legs, as always, were thin and pretty.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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.
