Obese

//oʊˈbis// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who is obese.

    "Despite a large scattering of HR decay rate, even present in healthy subjects, a ₂ and ΔHR were significantly lower in obeses and COPDs."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build; or, having a body mass index over 30 kg/m².

    "The president, being 74, a man and someone categorised as obese, is in a higher-risk category for Covid-19."

Adjective
  1. 1
    excessively fat wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
corpulentadiposebeefybig as a housebig-belliedbig-boned

Example

More examples

"BMI categories (underweight, overweight or obese) from general reading table are inappropriate for athletes, children, the elderly, and the infirm."

Etymology

From Latin obēsus, derived from obedō (“I devour, eat away”), from ob (“away”) + edō (“I eat”). Displaced native Old English oferfǣtt (literally “overfat”).

Related phrases

clinically obesemorbidly obesebody mass index

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.