brawny

adjective

ˈbrȯ-nē 

brawnier; brawniest

1

: muscular

also : strong, powerful

2

: being swollen and hard

a brawny infected foot

brawnily

ˈbrȯ-nə-lē 

adverb

brawniness

ˈbrȯ-nē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• muscular
• rugged
• sinewy
• stalwart
• stout
• strong

Examples of brawny in a Sentence

the store manager always asked the brawniest person there to do the heavy lifting

brawny arms that weren't developed in the gym but by years of work in the construction business

Recent Examples on the Web

There are machines with brawny German beer maids, flawless Chinese geishas, Manchu emperors on golden buffalo. —Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 18 Dec. 2024

Their warm and wet climates couldn’t produce the brawny horses needed for their cavalries. —David Chaffetz, Fortune Asia, 15 Dec. 2024

This build arrived in California courtesy of Osprey Custom Cars, which used the shorter Defender 110’s wheelbase to create a truck with almost cartoonish proportions, something big and brawny but simultaneously cute with the small truck bed. —Michael Teo Van Runkle, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024

Independent festival films also outperformed their brawnier blockbuster counterparts yesterday with Gladiator II, Dune: Part II and Wicked only garnering eight nominations between them. —Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1581, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

brawny

adjective

ˈbrȯ-nē 

brawnier; brawniest

: being swollen and hard

a brawny infected foot