punchy
/ˈpʌnt͡ʃi/
punchy adjective: having a punch; effective; forceful; spirited; vigorous.
Adjective (1)
punchy (comparative punchier, superlative punchiest)
- Having a punch; effective; forceful; spirited; vigorous.
- Best cuts: "The Evil Dude," "Kung Fu, Too!" "Mama Love," "New Orleans" (with a punchy vocal by Teresa Brewer).1975, Billboard, volume 87, number 24, page 50
- Some of the punchiest passages in "The Lady and the Panda" are quotations from Harkness's own writing.2005 August 15, Pamela Paul, “The Lady and the Panda”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2023
- ambitiously high, aggressive.
- [T]o stand the best chance of being punchy on price, you must show you’re a serious buyer. So be prepared. As well as getting a mortgage in principle, have a screenshot of your deposit and stamp duty savings to flash at estate agents to prove you’re “proceedable”.2026 August 8, Claer Barrett, “Kids, flats and student loans: Why UK first-time buyers are getting older”, in Financial Times
- Involving or resembling a punch with the fist.
- Apart from the problemette with the punchy bits, I've got only one reservation with the game and that's that the tie-in element is a bit shaky to say the least.1992, Jonny Quest (video game review) in Your Sinclair (issue 75, page 16)
- Francine leans down and her body tenses, shoulders reddening as she makes a sharp, punchy gesture. It doesn't look like a couple in love.2021, Chandler Baker, The Husbands
- Punchable; punchworthy.
- Even with his punchy face, Roman nose and big ears, Jack Drawbaugh will command most of the attention for the 1-14-mile marathon route tomorrow at Sunland Park.1978 October 18, “Ugly gelding sitting pretty for Sunland marathon”, in El Paso Herald-Post, volume CI, number 27, El Paso, Tex., →ISSN, →OCLC, page B-3, column 2
- I've always hated Robbie Williams downright stupid face, Hopefully the Gallaghers will break his legs aswell.2000 March 2, Harry 'snapper' Organs, “punchy face”, in alt.music.oasis (Usenet), archived from the original on 16 Sep 2025
- Behaving or appearing punch-drunk, reacting poorly.
- I was so sleep-deprived I was starting to get punchy.
- “It has been weeks since any of us have had even a moment of slumber.” “It's actually been only, like, 14 hours, but they get a little punchy when they don't get their sleep.”2021 September 16, Sarah Naftalis, “The Casino” (13:58 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch)
- Of groomed snow: unable to support the weight of a skier, especially when the skier’s weight is all on one ski, resulting in a ski punching through the surface of the snow.
Adjective (2)
punchy meaning in Malayalam
punchy in Malayalam
- incisive, forceful, strong
- പ്രഹരശക്തിയുള്ള, ശക്തമായ, ബലമുള്ള, തുളച്ചുകയറുന്ന, വീര്യമുള്ള, ഊർജ്ജസ്വലമായ
Forms of punchy
| comparative | punchier |
|---|---|
| superlative | punchiest |
Origin of punchy
From punch + -y.
From punch (“short fat person”) + -y.
Words formed from punchy
Questions about punchy
- What does punchy mean?
- Punchy means having a punch; effective; forceful; spirited; vigorous.
- What is punchy in Malayalam?
- Punchy in Malayalam is പ്രഹരശക്തിയുള്ള, ശക്തമായ, ബലമുള്ള. See Punchy meaning in Malayalam.
- What part of speech is punchy?
- Punchy is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce punchy?
- Punchy is pronounced /ˈpʌnt͡ʃi/.
Words near punchy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: punchy (page history and authors); punchy (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-punchy.wav.
Cite this entry: “punchy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/punchy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.