Word.ws English Dictionary

burliest

burliest is the superlative form of burly.

Meaning of burly

Adjective (1)

burly (comparative burlier, superlative burliest)

  1. (usually) Large, well-built, and muscular.
    • He’s a big, burly rugby player who works as a landscape gardener.
  2. (UK, slang, East End of London) Great, amazing, unbelievable.
    • That goal was burly.
  3. (US, slang, surf culture and/or Southern California) Of large magnitude, either good or bad, and sometimes both.
    • That wave was burly! (i.e. large, dangerous and difficult to ride)

Adjective (2)

burly (comparative more burly, superlative most burly)

  1. Full of burls or knots; knotty.

Questions about burliest

What is burliest the superlative form of?
Burliest is the superlative form of burly.

Words near burliest in the dictionary

  1. Burley in Wharfedale
  2. burleycue
  3. burleys
  4. burlicue
  5. burlier
  6. burliest
  7. burlike
  8. burlily
  9. burlin'
  10. burliness
  11. burling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: burliest (page history and authors); burly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “burliest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/burliest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.