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The name of the fruit plum goes back to Old English. During the 18th century, the word plum became a delectable ingredient in the language. The word for the sweet, juicy fruit denoted such things as a fortune of 100,000 pounds, a rich person, and, by the early 19th century, anything desirable. The related adjective plummy blossomed in the early 18th century with the meaning "full of plums" and had branched out as an adjective for desirable things by the century's end. By the 19th century, it was being used to describe rich, mellow voices. The sweetness of the word did eventually sour, however, when people began to use it to describe stilted or affected speech, as in "the teacher used a plummy voice when he talked to the students' parents."

Examples of plummy in a Sentence

the wine's ripe, plummy flavors

Recent Examples on the Web LuPone is not just a showstopper here, not just a gravitational force, not just a plummy, hammy delight, dressed (by Bunny Christie) in a fur coat as subtle and spherical as a Hostess Sno Ball. — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2021 The musical posits Britain as a land of fancy chandeliers, postcard palaces and plummy accents — what, no beefeaters?!? — Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2021 This, the penultimate vintage of the Rojo Grande, is floral and plummy, with a refreshing bitterness and a jolt of acidity that carries across the palate. — Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Sep. 2021 Watson himself speaks in the plummy tones of a broadcast announcer or audiobook narrator. — Star Tribune, 21 July 2021 Now overhauled in a far more refined style, this Portuguese rosé made from a blend mostly from Baga and Shiraz grapes along with others has a plummy richness with a dry, slightly tropical finish. — Amanda Schuster, Forbes, 20 May 2021 The last of the trio of lipsticks is the plummy Stacey. — Gabi Thorne, Allure, 22 Jan. 2021 The series, which takes place in early 1800s London, is narrated by an unseen insider (Julie Andrews provides the deliciously plummy voiceover), whose gossipy reports about high-society scandals the characters read with rapt attention. — oregonlive, 22 Dec. 2020 His plummy voice and expertise on wildlife give him away. — Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2020 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plummy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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