Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

Thesaurus

portly

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of portly

1 having an excess of body fat

  • a portly gentleman who loved to cook for his family and friends
Synonyms of portly

blubbery, chubby, corpulent, fat, fleshy, full, gross, lardy, obese, overweight, plump, podgy [chiefly British], pudgy, replete, roly-poly, rotund, round, tubby
Words Related to portly

beefy, bulky, chunky, heavy, heavyset, plumpish, stocky, stout, thick, thickset, weighty

brawny, burly, hefty, husky

dumpy, squat, stubby

hippy, paunchy, potbellied

flabby, soft

ample, buxom, corn-fed, ripe, zaftig (also zoftig)

endomorphic
Near Antonyms of portly

angular, bony (also boney), gaunt, lank, lanky, rawboned, sinewy

cadaverous, emaciated, haggard, pinched, skeletal, wasted

puny, scraggy, scrawny, slight

rangy, reedy, spindling, spindly, stringy, svelte, sylphlike, twiggy, waspish, weedy, willowy

ectomorphic

anorexic
Antonyms of portly

lean, skinny, slender, slim, spare, thin

2 having or showing a formal and serious or reserved manner

  • walked with the portly grace of the grande dame that she was
Synonyms of portly

august, dignified, distingué, distinguished, imposing, solemn, staid, stately
Words Related to portly

decorous, proper, seemly

grave, grim, po-faced [British], sober, somber (or sombre)

aristocratic, elegant, elevated, handsome, lordly, magisterial, majestic, noble
Near Antonyms of portly

coarse, crass, crude, improper, indecent, uncouth, unseemly, vulgar
Antonyms of portly

flighty, frivolous, giddy, goofy, silly, undignified

Learn More about portly

  1. See words that rhyme with portly Dictionary: Definition of portly Spanish Central: Translation of portly Nglish: Translation of portly for Spanish speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up portly? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show comments hide comments

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

immure

to enclose within walls

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. synergy Mueller files Cohen details.

  2. slumgullion From the broadcast of 'It Happened on Fifth Avenue'

  3. endgame Marvel's Avengers: Endgame

SEE ALL

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games