noun
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the state or quality of being physical
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the physical characteristics of a person, object, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of physicality
Explanation
Physicality is the quality of being closely connected in some way to the body. The physicality of your modern dance might surprise your audience, who weren't expecting so much stomping around and rolling on the floor. You can also use the term physicality for things that are real, concrete and tangible: "I liked the physicality of that art exhibit, all of those huge sculptures that we could touch." It often refers to the presence of physical human bodies, though: "The physicality of the toddlers' play surprised me — they looked like professional wrestlers!" The key to this noun's meaning is the presence of physical, "relating to the body."
Vocabulary lists containing physicality
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:
She made it a habit to visit nursing homes, speak with their residents and study their physicality from their gestures to their gaits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
With City looking to press high and often in a man-to-man fashion, Anderson has had to cover more space with his partners in midfield lacking the physicality required to support him.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026
The physicality is surprising coming from two teammates at St. Francis High.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026
The massive shoulder gives him weight and solidity; yet his frizzled hair becomes smoke, his expression remains impenetrable, and the surrounding darkness and dissolving lower torso undermine that physicality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
It was as if she needed the reassurance of their physicality when they were not together.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“He wasn’t just playing three characters, but three different layers of the same character, each with unique looks, vocal ranges, physicalities and emotions,” says Matt Duffer, one of the show’s creators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
Gladstone and DiCaprio fit persuasively even if their characters have contrasting vibes, temperaments and physicalities.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2023
We have a movement coach in “The Crown,” and her job is to help us get inside of the physicalities that are attributed to these people.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2022
When I experience pain, my face can get weird, and I can get really quiet, so I wanted to explore the physicalities of it, because I haven't been able to do that.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2021
Where now his metaphysics, his gibes on the physicalities, the moralities, the spiritualities?—all bundled up in a vibrating chord.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume XXII by John Mackay Wilson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
