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 strong, muscular, rugged, sinewy, stalwart, stoutRelated 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, soundNear Antonyms challenged, disabled, incapacitated, paralyzed; impotent, powerless; puny, slight, small, unathletic, unfit, unhealthyAntonyms 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 muscular, sinewyRelated Words wiry; powerful, strong; beefy, burly, hefty, hulking, husky; able-bodied, athletic, herculean, mighty, robust, rugged, stalwart, stout, strapping, sturdy; muscle-bound; sculptedNear 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, spareAntonyms scrawny, skinny

3 strongly and heavily built <a tough little boy who's going to be a brawny man someday> Synonyms beefy, {h,1}husky, burly, hefty, hulking, mesomorphicRelated 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, tubbyNear 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