Stodgy

//ˈstɒ.d͡ʒi// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Dull, old-fashioned.

    "I gave up trying to get that stodgy club to try anything new."

  2. 2
    Having a thick, semi-solid consistency; glutinous; heavy on the stomach.

    ""What's the matter with you?" — "Nothing. I'm sorry to be so damned emotional, but for six months I've been starved for beauty." — "You used to be so matter of fact. It's very interesting to hear you say that." — "Damn it all, I don't want to be interesting," laughed Philip. "Let's go and have a stodgy tea.""

  3. 3
    Badly put together. dated
Adjective
  1. 1
    excessively conventional and unimaginative and hence dull wordnet
  2. 2
    (used pejoratively) out of fashion; old fashioned wordnet
  3. 3
    heavy and starchy and hard to digest wordnet

Example

More examples

"Bill Maher was never funny, but his politics used to be far less stodgy."

Etymology

Unknown, but possibly from stodge (“to stuff”), from stog, or a blend of stuffy + podgy.

Related phrases

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