hefty

H4E1F4T1Y4
/ˈhɛfti/

adjective

With heft; heavy, strong, vigorous, mighty, impressive

“He was a tall, hefty man.”

Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

hefty1

adjectivehefty (comparative heftier, superlative heftiest)

comparative heftier · superlative heftiest

  1. With heft; heavy, strong, vigorous, mighty, impressive

    He can throw a hefty punch.

    3 more examples

    The Remove dormitory echoed to the old, familiar sound of Bunter's hefty snore.

    1934, Frank Richards, The Magnet, Kidnapped from the Air

    Fill up on some of the heftiest burritos in captivity, fashioned around grilled beef, chicken, greasy and indulgent barbecued pork al pastor, carnitas and the more exotic [things].

    1998, The Best of San Francisco and Northern California, Gault Millau, →ISBN, page 75

    […] on Sunday four more violinists, a second violist and a harpsichordist were added to give the ripieno sections of the fast movements a heftier punch than the smaller group delivered.

    2009 January 20, Allan Kozinn, “Shafts of Sun in Winter From the Italian Baroque”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Jan 2021
  2. Strong; bulky.

    They use some hefty bolts to hold up road signs.

  3. Possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful; powerfully or heavily built.

    He was a tall, hefty man.

  4. Heavy, weighing a lot.

    She carries a hefty backpack full of books.

  5. Large, healthy.

    a hefty fine

    1 more example

    That's going to cost you a hefty sum.

Hefty2

proper nounHefty (plural Heftys)

plural Heftys

Synonyms & antonyms

adjective(of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful

adjectiveof considerable weight and size

Similar

adjectivelarge in amount or extent or degree

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

19th century. From heft (“weight”) + -y. The similarity with German heftig (“vigorous, violent, intense”) is apparently coincidental. From the German are Dutch, Danish, Norwegian heftig, Swedish häftig.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian як, здрав
  • як (jak)strong, bulky
  • здрав (zdrav)strong, bulky
  • як (jak)powerfully or heavily built
  • тежък (težăk)heavy
Dutch fors, stevig
  • forsstrong, bulky
  • stevigstrong, bulky
  • stevigpowerfully or heavily built
  • forsheavy
  • zwaarheavy
Esperanto forta
  • fortastrong, bulky
Finnish mahtava, tukeva
  • mahtavaimpressive, mighty
  • tukevastrong, bulky
  • tanakkapowerfully or heavily built
  • vantterapowerfully or heavily built
  • tuhtiheavy
French baraqué, costaud
  • baraquépowerfully or heavily built
  • costaudpowerfully or heavily built
  • lourdheavy
German beeindruckend, deftig
  • beeindruckendimpressive, mighty
  • deftigstrong, bulky
  • klobigstrong, bulky
  • kräftigpowerfully or heavily built
  • mächtigpowerfully or heavily built
  • starkpowerfully or heavily built
  • schwerheavy
Māori katete, katete
  • katetepowerfully or heavily built
  • kateteheavy
  • toimahaheavy
  • taumahaheavy
Polish ciężki
  • ciężkiheavy
Portuguese poderoso, robusto
  • poderosoimpressive, mighty
  • robustostrong, bulky
  • robustopowerfully or heavily built
  • fortepowerfully or heavily built
  • pesadoheavy
Romanian impresionant, solid
  • impresionantimpressive, mighty
  • solidstrong, bulky
Russian впечатля́ющий, могу́щественный
  • впечатля́ющий (vpečatljájuščij)impressive, mighty
  • могу́щественный (mogúščestvennyj)impressive, mighty
  • большо́й (bolʹšój)strong, bulky
  • объёмистый (obʺjómistyj)strong, bulky
  • масси́вный (massívnyj)strong, bulky
  • изря́дный (izrjádnyj)strong, bulky
  • оби́льный (obílʹnyj)strong, bulky
  • дю́жий (djúžij)powerfully or heavily built
  • здорове́нный (zdorovénnyj)powerfully or heavily built
  • си́льный (sílʹnyj)powerfully or heavily built
  • мо́щный (móščnyj)powerfully or heavily built
  • тяжёлый (tjažólyj)heavy
Turkish etkileyici, çam yarması gibi
  • etkileyiciimpressive, mighty
  • çam yarması gibistrong, bulky
  • iristrong, bulky
  • iri yarıstrong, bulky
  • güçlü kuvvetlipowerfully or heavily built
  • kuvvetlipowerfully or heavily built
  • ağırheavy

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with hefty

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

hefty. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hefty

MLA

“hefty.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hefty. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hefty,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hefty.

Source: hefty on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.