hefty

adjective

ˈhef-tē How to pronounce hefty (audio)
Definition of heftynext
1
as in massive
having great weight that's a pretty hefty book bag for a tiny person like you

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in large
of a size greater than average of its kind received a hefty donation from the local business association for holiday lights along Main Street

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in powerful
strongly and heavily built hefty since childhood, he became a champion wrestler

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hefty So wearing a breathable, natural fiber on top made a huge difference—that, and a hefty spray of Dove Antiperspirant! — Amanda Le, InStyle, 8 Sep. 2026 She is confronted with that question at her workplace by the mysterious Ricki (Lily James), an intriguing young woman with an uneasy edge looking to deposit a surprisingly hefty sum of money. — Tomris Laffly, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026 The lean, 5-foot, 11-inch hunter struggled to get his heftier companion to his feet. — Jan Thacker, Outdoor Life, 3 Sep. 2026 Those charges are similar to the ones leveled against Minneapolis police officers accused in George Floyd’s killing and can carry hefty prison sentences. — Megan Rose, ProPublica, 3 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hefty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hefty
  1. massive
  2. large
  3. powerful
  4. heavy
  5. sizable
  6. mighty
  7. substantial
  8. beefy
Adjective
  • Alongside those, Barca make massive amounts from merchandise, reflecting the club’s global appeal.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The second was King Philip’s War in the 1670s, which was a massive uprising in response to the harms of colonialism.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of massive
Adjective
  • Granted, Pollard needs only 1,083 yards to achieve a career high, but the Titans would like to get Tyjae Spears more involved and the overall quality of this offense remains a large question mark.
    — Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2026
  • This can address key requirements of the world’s largest cruise vessels.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of large
Adjective
  • This powerful radio telescope is expected to find tens of thousands of FRBs, a major boon for cosmology.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Her response, like mine, seems to have been immediate and powerful.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of powerful
Adjective
  • Today, his lab is building a larger version of the QGI experiment that puts nanodiamonds into the same superposition—objects 10 orders of magnitude heavier than atoms, massive enough to warp spacetime around themselves.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Each year there is heavy police presence at the site around the anniversary, and some people have been detained after showing up with flowers or candles.
    — Jennifer Jett, NBC news, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of heavy
Adjective
  • Now, as van den Berg arrives for his first NFL regular season with Sunday’s Bears-Panthers opener in Charlotte, he is expected to play a sizable role as part of the Bears’ defensive line rotation.
    — Dan Wiederer, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • One of the two candidates for president, one of the country’s foremost politicians, was expressly lumping together a sizable American ethnic minority with external enemies.
    — Daniel Benjamin, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of sizable
Adjective
  • Even in the early 1990s, one of Ferrari’s most unsuccessful periods of form in F1, when its cars lapped two seconds slower than the then-mighty McLaren or Williams teams, the home grand prix would still carry an extra weight.
    — Luke Smith, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Travelers can spend a few weeks following the entire route or easily choose a section to experience the historic river towns, scenic overlooks, wildlife refuges, and communities built along the mighty Mississippi.
    — Abby Price, Travel + Leisure, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of mighty
Adjective
  • Its physical design is paired with substantial onboard computing, with three Turing AI chips providing up to 2,250 TOPS of effective computing power.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 8 Sep. 2026
  • Instead of carrying one sandwich or a small box, it is built to move substantial cargo between locations.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of substantial
Adjective
  • Parks and Tamburello openly flirted on their season of The Traitors, with the beefy Boston native and Southern belle often pairing up during the reality competition’s challenges.
    — Kathleen Perricone, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Both the Grand Canyon and ML-T previously traded out the original 2021 floating auxiliary front roof lights for a beefier front light bar during a 2024 refresh.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of beefy

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hefts
hefty
hegemonies
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Cite this Entry

“Hefty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hefty. Accessed 13 Sep. 2026.

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