obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: having excessive body fat

Synonyms

• plump
• fat
• overweight
• round

Examples of obese in a Sentence

providing medical treatment for obese patients

the basset hound was so obese that its stomach touched the floor

Recent Examples on the Web

In the study, which included 125 overweight or obese adults, participants who received weekly injections of amycretin lost more weight than those who took a placebo, according to a press release from Novo Nordisk. —Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 23 June 2025

As such, the study researchers call for urgent policy changes in governments and public health to support treatment for overweight and obese children, as well as preventative strategies. —​wendy Wisner, Parents, 4 June 2025

On the other hand, people with ADHD who live in larger cities are less likely to become obese due to better accessibility to mental health services. —Anuradha Varanasi, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025

Patients who are more obese may ultimately do better with Zepbound, said Aronne, who has also advised Novo Nordisk. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 12 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin obēsus "fat, stout," past participle of *obedere, perhaps meaning originally "to gnaw," from ob- "against" + edere "to eat" — more at ob-, eat entry 1

Note: Etymologically obēsus should mean "thin, emaciated," if the sense of the unattested verb *obedere was "to eat away, gnaw," as implied by its components. The Roman writer Aulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae 19.7.3) pointed this out and adduced a passage from the poet Laevius (who is known only from a handful of quotations from his works made by other authors), where the word apparently has the meaning "wasted." Presumably the word went reanalysis after the extinction of the verb. The grammarian Pompeius Festus construed the derivation phrasally as "made fat as if as a result of eating" ("pinguis quasi ob edendum factus").

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for obese

• apiece
• aris
• assise
• caprice
• cerise
• decease
• decrease
• eyepiece
• facepiece
• handpiece
• headpiece
• increase

Kids Definition

obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: very fat

obesity

ō-ˈbē-sət-ē

noun

Medical Definition

obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: having excessive body fat : affected by obesity