plucky
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- pluckily adverb
- pluckiness noun
Etymology
Origin of plucky
Explanation
To be plucky is to show courage. Plucky people are often underdogs fighting against the odds, like a plucky kid who scares away a burglar or a plucky kitten who refuses to run away from a Great Dane. Pluck is courage or heart, so to be plucky is to have those qualities. This word describes brave people and actions, and it means about the same as feisty and spunky. It often applies to people who bravely struggle against powerful forces. A short person playing basketball is plucky. You can be plucky in fighting a terrible disease. Anyone who refuses to give up, no matter what, is plucky.
Vocabulary lists containing plucky
A Doll's House
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Dragonwings
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Lyddie
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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.
And though the devastation wrought by last year’s fire was unprecedented in its scale, the Schneiders remain optimistic about the future of their beloved enclave and its plucky local paper.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2026
We all know the story: Take That were five plucky northern lads, formed in 1990 around the songwriting talents of bow-tied lounge singer Gary Barlow.
From BBC • Jan. 27, 2026
The tag was also, incidentally, a play on “The Blue Dahlia,” a 1946 movie written by Raymond Chandler and starring Veronica Lake as a plucky drifter who helps the hero track down his wife’s murderer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026
Time and time again on “Parks and Recreation,” the intrepid and plucky Leslie cut through legislative red tape and won over her enemies, and the ones she couldn’t persuade always looked like cold-hearted fools.
From Salon • Jan. 16, 2026
Dandelion took up his cue with the same plucky readiness that he had shown in the wood.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
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.
