puffy

adjective

ˈpə-fē 

puffier; puffiest

1

a

: swollen in size : bloated

puffy lips

… Hagrid gazed at him for a moment through his puffy, blackened eyes, apparently taken aback.

—J. K. Rowling

… who was … blind drunk, her voice slurry and her face puffy.

—Edna O'Brien

also : chubby

Fatty Hicks, the shrill and puffy son of Nat, flapped his hand at the beautiful stranger …

—Sinclair Lewis

b

: having a puffed up form or appearance : soft, light, and fluffy

puffy white clouds

a puffy bun

puffy hair

It is very difficult to shake hands when you're wearing ski mittens. They're so puffy and fat it's like shaking hands with giant marshmallows.

—Ann M. Martin

Not far away is a Georgian bakery where we found long, puffy loaves of wonderfully crisp bread.

—Jeffrey Steingarten

2

: blowing in puffs : gusty

a strong, puffy wind

3

: characterized by vanity or ostentation : pompous, showy

puffy rhetoric

All of my small, puffy pride at being the skipper of a tiny unit in a great nation victorious over the forces of evil seemed to blow away before the drunken racket of those three thousand men.

—Louis Auchincloss

puffiness

ˈpə-fē-nəs 

noun

Symptoms include nausea and vomiting, muscle weakness, headache and disorientation, as well as bloating and puffiness in the face and fingers.

—Susan Gilbert

Examples of puffy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rory Allen, who created it, put a bright-yellow, puffy coat on the receiver, whose face was completely covered. —Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 23 Jan. 2025

There are extra layers, bulky sweaters, puffy jackets, and warm accessories that need to fit beyond your essential travel items. —Annita Katee, Travel + Leisure, 21 Jan. 2025

This one involves a puffy NFL bomber jacket, a New York City Ballet dad cap, some mega baggy low-rise jeans, Nike Air More Uptempo trainers and…*check notes* a teeny, tiny indigo-blue Chanel bag. —Daisy Jones, Vogue, 17 Jan. 2025

There’s something about a matching set that makes any outfit look automatically polished — and Jennifer Lopez took that up a notch by layering hers with a puffy vest and combat boots in the exact same shade, making for a monochromatic look. —Kayla Blanton, People.com, 4 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1594, in the meaning defined at sense 3