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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
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2025
At one point, Melanie Field, who plays Sonya, mocks the plummy British sound of Bonneville’s Vanya.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2025
Eschewing cult-leader cliché for a plummy everyday friendliness that eventually circles round to sinister, Ben Whishaw cleverly plays Elon as equal parts guru and grifter: His counsel is sometimes obvious, but what the person needs to hear just the same.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 27 Dec. 2024
Oh, certainly, the plummy voice on the other end says, that’s no trouble at all.
—Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for plummy
Cite this Entry
“Plummy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plummy. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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