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

Let rise in a warm place until puffy, 30 minutes to 1 hour. —Marianne Williams, Southern Living, 26 May 2025

Waking up to a puffy face is fairly common and can be caused by several factors. —Jessie Quinn, StyleCaster, 29 Apr. 2025

Microgravity in space causes body fluids to shift, resulting in dehydration and common symptoms like a puffy face and skinny legs. —Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Apr. 2025

At any time of year eating Kentuckians’ favorite foods is easy but requisite during Derby Week, not least pimento cheese and country ham and biscuits, which will be found at every party, with puffy split buttermilk biscuits with a thin slice of rosy, salty, thinly sliced country ham on the table. —John Mariani, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1594, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Rhymes for puffy

• buffy
• fluffy
• scruffy
• stuffy