Word
obese
US/əˈbis/
UK/əʊbˈiːz/
Definitions
01extremely overweight
adj. very overweight in a way that can cause health problems.
adj. having an excessive amount of body fat that increases the risk of health problems. Often used as a clinical descriptor for individuals with a BMI over 30.
“The doctor warned him that being obese could lead to heart disease.”
“Public health initiatives are increasingly focused on reducing the number of children who are clinically obese before they reach adulthood.”
Technical
Usage
Often used in medical or formal contexts; can be perceived as offensive or overly blunt in casual social conversation.
Pitfall
He is very obese.
He is obese.
Obese is often treated as a non-gradable medical term; using 'very' can sound redundant or insensitive in a clinical context.
Teaching tip
In everyday English, people often use 'overweight' as a softer alternative, while 'obese' remains the standard term in medical and scientific reporting.
Synonyms
Antonyms
02people with obesity
n. a way to talk about people who are very overweight.
n. a collective or individual reference to persons with obesity. This usage is increasingly avoided in modern clinical settings in favour of person-first language.
“The study looked at how the obese responded to the new diet plan.”
“Modern medical ethics suggest using 'people with obesity' rather than 'the obese' to avoid defining individuals solely by their physical condition.”
Formal
Usage
Usually appears as 'the obese' to refer to a group of people.
Teaching tip
Advise students to use 'people with obesity' instead of 'the obese' to follow modern professional and inclusive language standards.
Real-World Examples
“Obese mice -- fed a high-fat diet -- were treated with tirzepatide.” Etymology
From Latin obēsus, derived from obedō (“I devour, eat away”), from ob (“away”) + edō (“I eat”). Displaced native Old English oferfǣtt (literally “overfat”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/obese