plummy
Americanadjective
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containing or resembling plums.
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good or desirable.
a plummy part for a good actress.
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richly or mellowly resonant.
a plummy speaking voice.
adjective
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of, full of, or resembling plums
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informal (of speech) having a deep tone and a refined and somewhat drawling articulation
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informal choice; desirable
Etymology
Origin of plummy
Explanation
Something excellent or desirable is plummy, like the plummy seats you scored for a popular Broadway play — right up front where you hear every word of the actors’ plummy, or rich sounding, voices. The adjective plummy is, quite straightforwardly, a way to talk about anything that tastes like a plum. Imagine someone sipping from a glass of wine, describing its plummy notes. In Britain, it's used far more often as an informal way to say "very desirable," like an actor's plummy role in a new movie, or "upper class," like your wealthy cousin's plummy accent. It's also applied to sounds that are rich and full.
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:
Leto’s grumbling Brit-inflected baritone is an unrecognizable concoction of trilled r’s and plummy vowels — and the best performance he’s done in years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Virginia Woolf then got into the act, criticizing the BBC Home Service as middlebrow, despite its newsreaders’ plummy Oxbridge accents.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
“I’ve been a garden-variety political commentator for most of my career,” he said in a plummy Sydney drawl.
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2024
Forget every store-bought version: This is deeply plummy, pleasantly sour, possibly citrusy, with a slight spicy bite.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
“Wish I’d brought a brolly,” she drawled in the plummy, educated tones of the Oxbridge colleges.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
The accent might have been plummier, but his position has been remarkably consistent, even though he has faced mockery, saying that people thought his views were "bonkers".
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026
Her diction is pungent; the tone has her familiar echoey depth — far plummier than Schwarz’s Brangäne — if fewer sumptuous colors.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
Derek shut his eyes, adopted a plummier version of a Scouse accent and claimed to be a spitfire pilot.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 17, 2011
In “Slow Horses,” those with the plummiest accents are almost always the least trustworthy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2024
In 10 Years of Location, Location, Location on Channel 4 tonight, television's plummiest pair present "a nostalgic evening of property-themed viewing."
From The Guardian ● Dec. 30, 2010
So far, this hasn't been the plummiest of fall TV seasons.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was a curious but exhilarating experience to hear the Bohemians, the playboys of Central Europe, interpreted in the roast-beef-and-plum-pudding style of the Philharmonic at its beefiest and plummiest.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-10-06 by Seaman, Owen, Sir
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.
