Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or consisting of muscle: muscular contraction.
- adj. Having well-developed muscles: a muscular build.
- adj. Having or suggesting great forcefulness, especially at the expense of subtlety: muscular reasoning that does not bother with the finer points; muscular advocacy groups.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining in any way to muscle or muscles; composing, constituting, or consisting of muscle: as, the muscular system; muscular origin or insertion; muscular fiber or tissue.
- Done by or dependent upon muscle or muscles: as, muscular action; muscular movement; muscular strength.
- Well-muscled; having well-developed muscles; strong; sinewy; brawny: as, a muscular man.
- Figuratively, strong and vigorous.
- One of the fibers of which muscular tissue is ultimately composed.
- Synonyms Sinewy, stalwart, sturdy, lusty, vigorous, powerful.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of, relating to, or connected with muscles.
- adj. Brawny, having strength.
- adj. Having large, well-developed muscles.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a muscle, or to a system of muscles; consisting of, or constituting, a muscle or muscles.
- adj. Performed by, or dependent on, a muscle or the muscles.
- adj. Well furnished with muscles; having well-developed muscles; brawny; hence, strong; powerful; vigorous.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful
- adj. having or suggesting great physical power or force
- adj. having a robust muscular body-build characterized by predominance of structures (bone and muscle and connective tissue) developed from the embryonic mesodermal layer
- adj. of or relating to or consisting of muscle
Etymologies
- Borrowed from Latin mūsculāris in the 17th century. (Wiktionary)
- From Latin mūsculus, muscle; see muscle. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“These are known as the _striated_, or striped, muscular tissue; the _non-striated_, or plain, muscular tissue; and the _muscular tissue of the heart_.”
“He provides extensive new details about the Taliban insurgency, which he calls a muscular and sophisticated enemy that uses modern propaganda and systematically reaches into Afghanistan's prisons to recruit members and even plan operations.”
“I have even heard it maybe one of the causes of the increase in muscular dystrophy for adults.”
“The pathway followed by small, watersoluble molecules in muscular capillaries is still under investigation.”
“Later, Hopkins worked with Walter Fletcher on the metabolic changes occurring in muscular contractions and rigor mortis.”
“Attempts have been made to follow the chemical processes involved in muscular activity by studying the changes of hydrogenion concentration by physical instruments.”
“A subsequent work contained the starting-point for a new method of investigation, which made it possible to trace the development of heat in muscular movements in their various stages.”
“The work of the human organism is usually classified as muscular or intellectual.”
Increasing Human Efficiency in Business: A Contribution to the Psychology of Business
“True, he is not what you would term muscular, but still he has muscles, which is more than he had when he came aboard.”
“Sinai Hospital for further tests on what was described as "muscular pain below the rib cage on the left side.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘muscular’.
-
Words in which "u" is pronounced "yu"
cute, uniform, puny, municipal, butte, fume, perfume, puke, cucumber, huge, demure, cube and 95 more...
-
I am : physical
Describing appearance and physique. More quantitative than qualitative/comparative. Can be used to sum a person up one-wordedly. (Still working on the definition of what I want in this list.)
handsome, beautiful, pretty, comely, ugly, rugged, buxom, buff, chiseled, svelte, lithe, portly and 35 more...
-
chandler stinks
words used by the NYT's perfume critic, Chandler Burr in a recent article 'reviewing' three fragrances, or in my satirical response to Chandler's review.
satire
Let's fuel this...masterly, maple, muscular, petulant, machismo, virtuosity, graphite, mouthwatering, lemongrass, gunpowder, blood-orange, velvet and 33 more...
-
Poetrie: The Emperor of Ice Cream
by Wallace Stevens
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
ice-cream, emperor, beam, affix, dumb, cold, protrude, face, spread, fantail, embroider, sheet and 14 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for muscular.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.