: having excessive body fat

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Maintain a Healthy Weight PCOS raises the risk of having a body weight that is considered overweight or obese. Peter Weiss, Verywell Health, 13 May 2025 The new study found that women with diverticulitis were more likely to be current or former smokers, report heavy alcohol use, and have a BMI classified as overweight or obese, compared with those without diverticulitis. Sarah Garone, Health, 9 May 2025 The 2022 Health Survey for England estimated that men were more likely than women to be overweight or obese (67% of men compared with 61% of women). Chloe Laws, Glamour, 9 May 2025 Nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, according to the Food Research & Action Center. Omer Awan, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for obese

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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Obese.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obese. Accessed 24 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

obese

adjective
: very fat
obesity
ō-ˈbē-sət-ē
noun

Medical Definition

obese

adjective
: having excessive body fat : affected by obesity

More from Merriam-Webster on obese

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