puffy

adjective

ˈpə-fē 

puffier; puffiest

1

a

: swollen in size : bloated

puffy lips

… Hagrid gazed at him for a moment through his puffy, blackened eyes, apparently taken aback.

—J. K. Rowling

also : somewhat fat : chubby

Fatty Hicks, the shrill and puffy son of Nat, flapped his hand at the beautiful stranger …

—Sinclair Lewis

b

: having a puffed up form or appearance : soft, light, and fluffy

puffy white clouds

a puffy bun

puffy hair

It is very difficult to shake hands when you're wearing ski mittens. They're so puffy and fat it's like shaking hands with giant marshmallows.

—Ann M. Martin

Not far away is a Georgian bakery where we found long, puffy loaves of wonderfully crisp bread.

—Jeffrey Steingarten

2

: blowing in puffs : gusty

a strong, puffy wind

3

: characterized by vanity or ostentation : pompous, showy

puffy rhetoric

All of my small, puffy pride at being the skipper of a tiny unit in a great nation victorious over the forces of evil seemed to blow away before the drunken racket of those three thousand men.

—Louis Auchincloss

puffiness

ˈpə-fē-nəs 

noun

Symptoms include nausea and vomiting, muscle weakness, headache and disorientation, as well as bloating and puffiness in the face and fingers.

—Susan Gilbert

Examples of puffy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Complete with a puffy pink dress and exaggerated makeup, her whimsical take on the show’s contestants was a crowd favorite. —Kate Hogan, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025

Rather, experts recommend seeking out certain ingredients, such as retinoids, hyaluronic acid, and ceramides, to help improve the look of puffy eyes and sagging skin by hydrating and boosting cell turnover. —Deanna Pai, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2025

There were people in puffy animal costumes dancing on the sidewalk and waving signs as motorists drove by, honking in support. —Christopher Cann, USA Today, 25 Oct. 2025

Who among us had a little pad on our nightstand, a stack of swollen notebooks beneath our bed, pages puffy with scrawl? —Literary Hub, 22 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for puffy

• buffy
• fluffy
• scruffy
• stuffy