obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: having excessive body fat

Synonyms

• plump
• fat
• overweight
• round

Examples of obese in a Sentence

providing medical treatment for obese patients

the basset hound was so obese that its stomach touched the floor

Recent Examples on the Web

Being obese is more prevalent than being underweight in all regions of the world except sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. —Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025

Of those, a high proportion are classified as obese, the agency said. —Amy Woodyatt, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2025

Her weight has fluctuated, but she's never been obese. —Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025

Size was the most powerful driver, with obese participants facing an 80% higher risk than peers at a healthy weight. —New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin obēsus "fat, stout," past participle of *obedere, perhaps meaning originally "to gnaw," from ob- "against" + edere "to eat" — more at ob-, eat entry 1

Note: Etymologically obēsus should mean "thin, emaciated," if the sense of the unattested verb *obedere was "to eat away, gnaw," as implied by its components. The Roman writer Aulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae 19.7.3) pointed this out and adduced a passage from the poet Laevius (who is known only from a handful of quotations from his works made by other authors), where the word apparently has the meaning "wasted." Presumably the word went reanalysis after the extinction of the verb. The grammarian Pompeius Festus construed the derivation phrasally as "made fat as if as a result of eating" ("pinguis quasi ob edendum factus").

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for obese

• apiece
• aris
• assise
• caprice
• cerise
• decease
• decrease
• eyepiece
• facepiece
• handpiece
• headpiece
• increase

Kids Definition

obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: very fat

obesity

ō-ˈbē-sət-ē

noun

Medical Definition

obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs 

: having excessive body fat : affected by obesity