obese

adjective

ō-ˈbēs How to pronounce obese (audio)
Synonyms of obesenext
: having excessive body fat

Synonyms

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 

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 Kept their weight in the normal range instead of being overweight or obese. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 22 June 2024 The race to score blockbuster weight-loss drugs is pushing one of the world’s largest populations of obese people to creative lengths. —Sydney Lake, Fortune Asia, 19 June 2024 Companies need to adapt to a world that has fewer obese people. —Morgan Haefner, Quartz, 17 June 2024 For the second study, researchers evaluated data over the span of three and a half years from a previous randomized trial that included about 17,600 individuals who were obese or overweight, and who had cardiovascular disease. —Lauryn Higgins, Health, 10 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for obese 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'obese.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of obese was in 1651

Dictionary Entries Near obese

oberrealschule

obese

obesity

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Cite this Entry

“Obese.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obese. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.

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Kids Definition

obese

adjective
ō-ˈbēs How to pronounce obese (audio)
: very fat
obesity
ō-ˈbē-sət-ē
noun

Medical Definition

obese

adjective
ō-ˈbēs How to pronounce obese (audio)
: having excessive body fat : affected by obesity

More from Merriam-Webster on obese

Nglish: Translation of obese for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of obese for Arabic Speakers

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