adjective
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short and thickset like a stump; stubby
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abounding in or full of stumps
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stumpy
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:
Kerewin is a memorable heroine, a chain-smoking, stumpy, frizzy-haired genius of a woman who can outfight, outfish and outwit anyone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
The palm-sized creatures have silky golden locks, no eyes, a stumpy tail and flipper-like hands.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2024
He reached into Hideg’s stash of percussion instruments and kept rhythm on cowbell and a set of stumpy sticks called claves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
In Barcelona, somewhere along the tracks where my mom's train would be chugging along, I discovered a log creature with a face and four stumpy legs.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2021
She flew past a valley of boulders and stumpy trees and found a stream flowing from the mouth of a cave.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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Some of the bones belonged to the already-discovered Steropodon galmani, a shorter, stumpier and toothier ancestor of the platypus.
From BBC ● May 27, 2024
While this tower leans in one direction, its stumpier partner tilts in another, forming what the developer optimistically calls “a dance of sleek giants”.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2019
In addition, Aeronautical Engineer Mark Drela designed an extra-thin wing that provides 30% more aerodynamic lift than stumpier conventional wings.
From Time Magazine Archive
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One of the two would climb to the top of the totem pole this week, but the pole seemed stumpier than usual.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The Canada porcupine has more hairs than the American, and a shorter and stumpier tail.
From The Human Side of Animals by Royal Dixon
But now they were skirting one of the longest and stumpiest stone walls in feudal England, and all of a sudden it parted in twin turrets joined by triple gates.
From The Crime Doctor by Ernest William Hornung
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.