Meanings
comparative bulkier · superlative bulkiest
- Being large in size, mass, or volume; big, fat or muscular.
Action such as this, filmed under great difficulty with a bulky, hand-cranked camera, revealed the possibilities of the movies and was quite startling in those early days.
1958 February 28, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 872 more examples
Needless to say, one's seat must be booked in advance and a platoon of urbane officials, one to each door of the train, awaits passengers to usher them to their seats and relieve them of their bulkier baggage.
1960 March, G. Freeman Allen, “Europe's most luxurious express - the "Settebello"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 140The captain did a safety drill. This covered where the emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was located, how to make a mayday call, and where the fire extinguishers were. A crew member demonstrated how to put on an immersion suit. These survival suits are waterproof full-body garments with a hood and integral three-finger gloves and boots. They are bulky and hard to get on but far more likely to save your life in cold water than a lifejacket.
2025 October 21, Rose George, “‘I knew in my head we were dying’: the last voyage of the Scandies Rose”, in The Guardian - bodybuildingHaving excess body mass, especially muscle.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishbulki
- Englishbulky
From Middle English bulki, boulky, equivalent to bulk + -y.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic ضَخْم
- ضَخْم (ḍaḵm)large in size, mass, or volume
Bulgarian обемист, масивен
- обемист (obemist)large in size, mass, or volume
- масивен (masiven)large in size, mass, or volume
- тромав (tromav)unwieldy
Catalan voluminós
- voluminóslarge in size, mass, or volume
Czech objemný
- objemnýlarge in size, mass, or volume
Danish voluminøs
- voluminøslarge in size, mass, or volume
Dutch lijvig, omvangrijk
- lijviglarge in size, mass, or volume
- omvangrijklarge in size, mass, or volume
- diklarge in size, mass, or volume
Esperanto ampleksa, dika
- ampleksalarge in size, mass, or volume
- dikalarge in size, mass, or volume
Finnish kookas, iso
- kookaslarge in size, mass, or volume
- isolarge in size, mass, or volume
- kömpelöunwieldy
French gros, corpulent
- groslarge in size, mass, or volume
- corpulentlarge in size, mass, or volume
- volumineuxlarge in size, mass, or volume
- encombrantunwieldy
German massig, wuchtig
- massiglarge in size, mass, or volume
- wuchtiglarge in size, mass, or volume
- sperrigunwieldy
Greek ογκώδης
- ογκώδης (ogkódis)large in size, mass, or volume
Hungarian nagy terjedelmű, terjedelmes
- nagy terjedelműlarge in size, mass, or volume
- terjedelmeslarge in size, mass, or volume
- masszívlarge in size, mass, or volume
- vaskoslarge in size, mass, or volume
- méreteslarge in size, mass, or volume
- testeslarge in size, mass, or volume
- zömöklarge in size, mass, or volume
- ormótlanunwieldy
Irish téagartha, téagartha
- téagarthalarge in size, mass, or volume
- téagarthaunwieldy
Italian voluminoso, massiccio
- voluminosolarge in size, mass, or volume
- massicciolarge in size, mass, or volume
- ingombrantelarge in size, mass, or volume
- scomodounwieldy
Korean 거대한
- 거대한 (geodaehan)large in size, mass, or volume
Māori takapū, pūngerungeru
- takapūlarge in size, mass, or volume
- pūngerungerularge in size, mass, or volume
- horelarge in size, mass, or volume
- pū(w)hekiunwieldy
- pū(w)hetiunwieldy
Polish masywny
- masywnylarge in size, mass, or volume
Portuguese grosso, volumoso
- grossolarge in size, mass, or volume
- volumosolarge in size, mass, or volume
- massudolarge in size, mass, or volume
Romanian mare, voluminos
- marelarge in size, mass, or volume
- voluminoslarge in size, mass, or volume
- mătăhălosunwieldy
Russian объёмистый, громо́здкий
- объёмистый (obʺjómistyj)large in size, mass, or volume
- громо́здкий (gromózdkij)unwieldy
Scottish Gaelic tomadach
- tomadachlarge in size, mass, or volume
Slovak objemný
- objemnýlarge in size, mass, or volume
Spanish voluminoso, abultado
- voluminosolarge in size, mass, or volume
- abultadounwieldy
- rebultadounwieldy
Swedish skrymmande, skrymmande
- skrymmandelarge in size, mass, or volume
- skrymmandeunwieldy
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
bulky. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bulky
“bulky.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bulky. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bulky,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bulky.
Source: bulky on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.