paunchier; paunchiest
: having a potbelly
paunchiness
noun
Examples of paunchy in a Sentence
not surprisingly, the new Hollywood biopic casts a young, athletically trim actor in the role of the paunchy, balding artist
Recent Examples on the Web
Lean and lethally witty Adam Godley plays middle son Mayer, the perfect counterpoint to Beale’s paunchy patriarch.
—
Marilyn Stasio, Variety, 14 Oct. 2021
Colin Farrell looks less like himself than ever in The Lobster, a movie in which the attractive leading man is transformed into a schlubby, paunchy character sporting a big mustache and corrective lenses.
—Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 23 Jan. 2023
The paunchy man’s head was resting on the general’s left leg.
—Vladimir Sorokin, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022
Unlike castrati of the 17th and 18th centuries — always beardless, and typically tall and paunchy — Mariño is short and lithe, and was already sporting a five o’clock shadow on a recent afternoon walk with Leia, his Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
—New York Times, 27 May 2022
The father, Alexei Shostakov (played by David Harbour), is now a bearded and paunchy Soviet-era superhero known as Red Guardian, the counterpart of Captain America.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 July 2021
One recent late afternoon, a group of paunchy middle-aged men seated in plastic chairs on the sidewalk debated measures to fight the virus.
—Renata Brito, Anchorage Daily News, 26 May 2020
The puzzled batter swings at the next pitch, grounds it to short, and is astonished to see the paunchy second-base umpire shifting to his right to field the ball, while the shortstop tries to coach his footwork.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 4 Apr. 2020
If coolness denotes — or once denoted — a certain indifference to what people think, then these middle-aged mothers with their silly, adorable shtick and their paunchy husbands are perhaps the only cool people left on our try-hard planet.
—Carina Chocano, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2019
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Marilyn Stasio, Variety, 14 Oct. 2021
Colin Farrell looks less like himself than ever in The Lobster, a movie in which the attractive leading man is transformed into a schlubby, paunchy character sporting a big mustache and corrective lenses.
—Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 23 Jan. 2023
The paunchy man’s head was resting on the general’s left leg.
—Vladimir Sorokin, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022
Unlike castrati of the 17th and 18th centuries — always beardless, and typically tall and paunchy — Mariño is short and lithe, and was already sporting a five o’clock shadow on a recent afternoon walk with Leia, his Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
—New York Times, 27 May 2022
The father, Alexei Shostakov (played by David Harbour), is now a bearded and paunchy Soviet-era superhero known as Red Guardian, the counterpart of Captain America.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 July 2021
One recent late afternoon, a group of paunchy middle-aged men seated in plastic chairs on the sidewalk debated measures to fight the virus.
—Renata Brito, Anchorage Daily News, 26 May 2020
The puzzled batter swings at the next pitch, grounds it to short, and is astonished to see the paunchy second-base umpire shifting to his right to field the ball, while the shortstop tries to coach his footwork.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 4 Apr. 2020
If coolness denotes — or once denoted — a certain indifference to what people think, then these middle-aged mothers with their silly, adorable shtick and their paunchy husbands are perhaps the only cool people left on our try-hard planet.
—Carina Chocano, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2019
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paunchy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1598, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near paunchy
Cite this Entry
“Paunchy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paunchy. Accessed 29 Sep. 2023.
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