portly
Americanadjective
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rather heavy or fat; stout; corpulent.
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Archaic. stately, dignified, or imposing.
adjective
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stout or corpulent
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archaic stately; impressive
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of portly
Explanation
If your uncle has a rounder body shape, he might call himself a portly gentleman. Synonyms of portly include stout and heavy. Some opera singers are portly, but all that girth makes it easier for them to produce a robust sound. Although portly is similar to chubby, it’s a little more dignified. In fact, the word was formerly used to mean “dignified,” and it still keeps a dose of dignity. Alfred Hitchcock and Winston Churchill were portly.
Vocabulary lists containing portly
"Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto
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A Christmas Carol
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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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.
But instead of portly people enjoying futuristic entertainment, we will all be skinnier thanks to today’s GLP-1 medications.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
Veytia, a portly figure with a bushy mustache, seemed an unlikely Eliot Ness, but he was credited with reducing violence and hailed as “the terror of every criminal” in a laudatory corrido, or ballad.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2025
As I grew up, a frequent refrain from friends and family members—in particular my zaftig aunts and portly uncles—was to opine about how they wished they were slim like me.
From Slate • Oct. 4, 2023
Ahmed, a portly man sporting a handlebar moustache and his trademark white turban, exuded an aura of fear wherever he went, embodying the archetype of a gangster-politician.
From BBC • May 14, 2023
Being so still, so portly in his iron sheath, and having the great blind helm over his head so that he had no proper face, he had a look of danger about him.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
