solid-looking

solid-looking — adjective

1. describes something that looks strong, well-made, or of good quality when you se

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

describes something that looks strong, well-made, or of good quality when you see it

Example

The old wooden table was solid-looking, with thick legs and a flat top.

collocation: describing furniture with materials

Minh carried a solid-looking bag with strong straps on the trip.

Common collocations
  • solid-looking + furniture/table/chair/bag/house/building
  • solid-looking + person/candidate/teacher
  • solid-looking + plan/investment/company
  • look/be/seem + solid-looking
Synonyms
  • sturdy

    focuses on physical strength and resistance to damage; more concrete

  • substantial

    suggests significant size, weight, or importance; more formal

  • well-built

    emphasises quality of construction; common for furniture and buildings

  • robust

    adds a sense of healthy strength; also used for systems and economies

Antonyms
  • flimsy

    weak and easily broken; opposite of sturdy

  • rickety

    poorly made and likely to fall apart

  • shoddy

    badly made or of low quality

Grammar Patterns

solid-looking + noun

be/look/seem + solid-looking

Usage Note

Compound adjective from solid + -looking. Describes objects, people, or plans that appear reliable or well-made. The pattern adjective + -looking is productive in English: good-looking, nice-looking, strange-looking.

Common Mistakes

She bought a solid-look bag.
She bought a solid-looking bag.
the compound adjective always ends in -looking, never -look.
The house looks very solid-looked.
The house looks very solid-looking.
do not change -looking to -looked, even after look or seem.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Solid-looking, sturdy, substantial, well-built, and robust all describe things that appear strong or reliable. Sturdy emphasises physical strength and resistance to damage (a sturdy chair). Substantial suggests significant size, weight, or importance (a substantial meal). Well-built focuses on the quality of construction, especially of furniture, buildings, or the human body (a well-built bookshelf). Robust adds a sense of healthy strength, often used for systems or organisations (a robust economy). Solid-looking is the most subjective, based purely on first impressions rather than tested strength. For a house that appears strongly built, both sturdy and solid-looking work, but sturdy implies tested resilience whereas solid-looking only comments on how it appears at first glance.

sturdysubstantial ↗well-built ↗robust ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • quite solid-looking
  • very solid-looking
  • fairly solid-looking
  • rather solid-looking

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Solid-looking is a compound adjective formed in English by combining solid (from Latin solidus, via Old French solide) and looking (the present participle of look, from Old English lōcian). The pattern of adjective + -looking to describe appearance has been productive in English since the Middle English period and is especially common in everyday, informal contexts.