obese

obese — adjective

1. carrying so much body fat that a doctor would say it puts the person at serious

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

carrying so much body fat that a doctor would say it puts the person at serious risk of illness, such as heart disease or diabetes.

Example

Dr. Lin warned Marcus that he was clinically obese and needed to change his diet.

medical context: clinically obese

Almost a third of adults in the country are now considered obese.

passive frame: be considered obese

Common collocations
  • clinically obese
  • morbidly obese
  • severely obese
  • obese patient
  • obese children
Synonyms
  • overweight

    milder; covers anyone heavier than recommended, not only the medically dangerous range

  • morbidly obese

    stronger fixed phrase used by doctors for the most extreme, life-threatening level

  • fat

    everyday word; blunter and often felt as rude, while 'obese' sounds clinical

Antonyms
  • slim

    neutral or positive; describes a thin, healthy build

  • underweight

    medical opposite: weighing dangerously little

Usage Note

Stronger and more clinical than 'fat' or 'overweight'; doctors use it about a measurable medical condition rather than as a casual insult. Calling someone obese to their face is usually considered rude outside a medical setting.

Common Mistakes

I ate too much pizza, so I feel obese tonight.
I ate too much pizza, so I feel really full tonight.
'obese' describes a long-term medical condition, not a temporary feeling after one meal.
My cat is a bit obese.
My cat is a bit overweight.
for mild excess weight, use 'overweight'; reserve 'obese' for serious, health-threatening levels.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe someone heavier than average, but they sit at very different points on the scale and carry different tones. 'Fat' is the plain, everyday word; it can be neutral but is often felt as rude, especially when aimed at another person. 'Chubby' is gentler and usually affectionate, often used for babies, children, or rounded cheeks. 'Overweight' is the polite, neutral term — it simply means heavier than the recommended weight and is safe in most situations. 'Obese' is the strongest of the four and the only one that is clinical: doctors use it for a level of body fat that genuinely threatens the person's health. So you might say a toddler has chubby legs, that an adult is a little overweight after the holidays, but only call someone obese when discussing a real medical risk.

obese ↗overweight ↗fat ↗chubby ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • become obese
  • be classified as obese
  • obese and inactive

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Borrowed into English in the seventeenth century from Latin 'obesus', literally 'having eaten oneself fat'. The Latin form combines 'ob-' (over, against) with the past participle of 'edere' (to eat). The word stayed mostly in medical writing for centuries and only became common in everyday English as modern medicine began studying obesity as a public-health problem.