punchy
Americanadjective
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being or appearing vigorously effective; forceful.
adjective
-
an informal word for punch-drunk
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informal incisive or forceful
a punchy article
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of punchy
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:
Isolated finger gestures, sometimes reaching upward, added telling small details to Mr. Morris’s choreographic momentum, which kept a heady pace with the composer’s insistently pounding, punchy sonorities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Anderson played punchy passes forward whenever space between the lines opened up.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
But he does sugarcoat his technological limitations as a 67-year-old comic in the dreaded age of video calls with a punchy Chicano twist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Update his selection of 1980s ties with a slimmer but no less punchy style from Drake’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
I click send and try not to think about it, but I'm restless and punchy and jittery all the way to school.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
That’s just enough wiggle room for sound engineers, who can try tricks of the trade to make commercials feel punchier and be perceived as louder while staying within the rules, Liaukonyte said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025
There is a choice of a fuel-conscious, non-turbocharged 191-horsepower four-cylinder engine or a punchier 281-horsepower turbo-four available in higher trims.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 2023
Mr Flynn was floated as an alternative who might prove a punchier figure, who would have more of a go at the Westminster establishment - and perhaps, whispered some, the SNP's internal one.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2022
One was slower and long-form, the other punchier, for singing after touchdowns.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2022
You can add all the vinegar you want to your egg salad, but using pickled eggs will always be brighter, punchier, and all around better..
From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2022
“GNX,” one of the rapper’s punchiest, most concise releases, is his fifth to get a nod for album of the year—though he has never taken home the trophy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
“Johnson is able to convey the largeness of human experience through the tiniest, punchiest sentences.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2025
In more ways than one, Bairstow is the great survivor of English cricket and there is genuine affection towards him from all areas of the game, even if he is the media's punchiest sparring partner.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2024
Our panel agreed that this was the punchiest tomato element on any of the pies, but Vaughn pronounced it too sweet, “the Lunchables of frozen pizza.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2023
She nodded, then hit me with the gut punchiest of all gut punches.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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.
