obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: having excessive body fat

Synonyms of obese

• 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

The researchers noted that it was carried out at a single point in time, most participants were overweight or obese, and married participants tended to be older. —Rachael O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2025

By 2050, over half of adults worldwide will be obese or overweight, predicts a study published in March by The Lancet. —Angelica Ang, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2025

Of course, people who are less obese might not benefit from losing a lot of weight. —Roxanne Khamsi, The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2025

More than 100 million American adults are obese, according to federal estimates. —Staff, Twin Cities, 6 Nov. 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