brawny

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adjective

Definition of BRAWNY

1

having muscles capable of exerting great physical force <the store manager always asked the brawniest person there to do the heavy lifting>

Synonyms brawny, muscular, rugged, sinewy, stalwart, stout

Related Words forceful, forcible, mighty, potent, powerful, puissant; able-bodied, athletic, fit, trim; beefy, burly, husky, strapping; masculine, virile; hard, inured, strengthened, sturdy, tough, toughened; energetic, energized, invigorated, lusty, red-blooded, robust, vigorous, vitalized; hale, healthy, hearty, sound

Near Antonyms challenged, disabled, incapacitated, paralyzed; impotent, powerless; puny, slight, small, unathletic, unfit, unhealthy

Antonyms delicate, feeble, frail, weak, weakling, wimpy

2

marked by a well-developed musculature <brawny arms that weren't developed in the gym but by years of work in the construction business>

Synonyms brawny, sinewy

Related Words wiry; powerful, strong; beefy, burly, hefty, hulking, husky; able-bodied, athletic, herculean, mighty, robust, rugged, stalwart, stout, strapping, sturdy; muscle-bound; sculpted

Near Antonyms nonathletic; debilitated, delicate, effete, enervated, enfeebled, feeble, fragile, frail, weak, weakened, weakly, wimpy; light, lightweight, slight; lean, slender, slim, svelte, sylphlike, thin, willowy; emaciated, gaunt, lank, rawboned, scraggy, spare

Antonyms scrawny, skinny

3

strongly and heavily built <a tough little boy who's going to be a brawny man someday>

Synonyms beefy, brawny, burly, hefty, hulking, mesomorphic

Related Words able-bodied, athletic, herculean, mighty, muscle-bound, muscular, powerful, robust, rugged, sinewy, stalwart, stout, strapping, strong, sturdy; chunky, compact, heavy, heavyset, solid, squat, squatty, stocky, thickset; chubby, dumpy, lumpish, podgy [chiefly British], portly, pudgy, roly-poly, tubby

Near Antonyms lean, light, lightweight, slender, slight, slim, svelte, sylphlike, thin, willowy; bony (also boney), gangling, gangly, gaunt, gawky, lanky, reedy, scraggy, scrawny, skinny, spare, stringy, twiggy, waspish, weedy; spidery, wiry; debilitated, delicate, effete, emaciated, enervated, enfeebled, feeble, fragile, frail, infirm, puny, unathletic, weak, weakly, wimpy