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

Pigs-in-a-blanket go upscale swathed in puffy pastry. —Kelly Brant, arkansasonline.com, 24 Dec. 2024

This gift will keep on giving when parents feel the relief of no longer having to try to wrestle young kids out of their puffy coats for car seat safety. —Robin Raven, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024

The puffy nylon tightens around the ankle, and the shearling lining and padded insole are like a hug for your foot. —Melissa Epifano, People.com, 18 Dec. 2024

Cover and let rise until puffy though not necessarily doubled in size, about 1 hour. Make the filling: Roll the almond paste into two even 8-inch-long logs, each about 65 grams. —Jason Mastrodonato, The Mercury News, 16 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1594, in the meaning defined at sense 3