puffy

adjective

ˈpə-fē 

puffier; puffiest

1

a

: swollen in size : bloated

puffy lips

… Hagrid gazed at him for a moment through his puffy, blackened eyes, apparently taken aback.

—J. K. Rowling

also : somewhat fat : chubby

Fatty Hicks, the shrill and puffy son of Nat, flapped his hand at the beautiful stranger …

—Sinclair Lewis

b

: having a puffed up form or appearance : soft, light, and fluffy

puffy white clouds

a puffy bun

puffy hair

It is very difficult to shake hands when you're wearing ski mittens. They're so puffy and fat it's like shaking hands with giant marshmallows.

—Ann M. Martin

Not far away is a Georgian bakery where we found long, puffy loaves of wonderfully crisp bread.

—Jeffrey Steingarten

2

: blowing in puffs : gusty

a strong, puffy wind

3

: characterized by vanity or ostentation : pompous, showy

puffy rhetoric

All of my small, puffy pride at being the skipper of a tiny unit in a great nation victorious over the forces of evil seemed to blow away before the drunken racket of those three thousand men.

—Louis Auchincloss

puffiness

ˈpə-fē-nəs 

noun

Symptoms include nausea and vomiting, muscle weakness, headache and disorientation, as well as bloating and puffiness in the face and fingers.

—Susan Gilbert

Examples of puffy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise until puffy but not quite doubled in size, 25 to 30 minutes. — ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026

On mornings when my face looks puffy (which is, honestly, most mornings), the cooling tip is just what the doctor ordered. — Jenny Berg, Vogue, 6 Oct. 2026

In Texas, breakfast tacos, street tacos and the popular puffy tacos are weekly staples. — Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Oct. 2026

My king bed was crisp, puffy, and beyond dreamy to slip into after a long day on my feet. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for puffy

• buffy
• fluffy
• scruffy
• stuffy