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punchy

adjective

ˈpən-chē How to pronounce punchy (audio)
Definition of punchynext
as in dazed
suffering from mental confusion feeling a little punchy after being up half the night with a crying baby

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 punchy Each nail pairs two punchy shades for a mismatched look that feels right at home in Harry’s colorful world. — Amanda Le, InStyle, 9 Sep. 2026 The facture of a painting by Kippenberger or, say, Büttner is typically heavy, punchy, almost coarse, with a blunt energy that does not promise freedom as the Abstract Expressionist gesture might be thought to do. — Barry Schwabsky, ARTnews.com, 8 Sep. 2026 Food and drink Opening four spots for dining and imbibing in an area as gastronomically oversaturated as this is a punchy move. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2026 The chocolatey hue can also be styled with punchier colors, like canary yellow, baby pink, or my personal favorite, aqua blue. — Kelsey Stiegman, Glamour, 8 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for punchy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punchy
  1. dazed
  2. confused
  3. bewildered
  4. distracted
  5. dizzy
  6. stunned
Adjective
  • Laiken Randolph appeared dazed, and possibly on drugs, officers remarked.
    — Brittany Wallman, Miami Herald, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Hsu maps a Los Angeles of leftovers and castoffs; portraits of friends and strangers in the street are full of dazed, inscrutable expressions.
    — Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of dazed
Adjective
  • Call them wrong, or confused, or uninformed, but these are the voters who decide elections.
    — Isaac Arnsdorf, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The Londoner walked away looking only slightly less confused.
    — Taylor Eldridge, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of confused
Adjective
  • Five o’clock Saturday, the Riverside Stadium and Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg is fist-pumping a half-bewildered but fully enthused home crowd.
    — Michael Walker, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • When kids first got online, parents were bewildered and alarmed, but kids, who tend to gravitate to new technology, found freedom in a space that was basically ungoverned.
    — Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of bewildered
Adjective
  • This is a film that allows, wants, even demands that the viewer become distracted, tired, and fidgety.
    — Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026
  • The driver was cited with distracted driving and failure to maintain a lane, and an internal investigation by MARTA has been launched, police said.
    — Irene Wright, USA Today, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of distracted
Adjective
  • What that film didn’t foretell was the Pakistani-American director’s fluent command of dizzy action setpieces.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Several other instances of illness linked to the MBG program have cropped up, including a group of 15 elementary schoolers and a school principal who became nauseous and dizzy after a meal in the Aceh province’s Bener Meriah regency, per the AP.
    — Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of dizzy
Adjective
  • King seemed stunned that an actual Black person had views that did not conform to her preconception of what a Black man should think.
    — Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 19 Sep. 2026
  • So stunned was Sarkisian that the 52-year-old coach completely forgot how to form big-boy words with his mouth.
    — Candace Buckner, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of stunned

Browse Nearby Words

punch-ups
punchy
punctilious
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Punchy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punchy. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

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