DictionaryAI

fat

FAT/fæt/

Pluralfats

Adjectivefatter, fattest

25 meanings of fat

Practice

  1. 1
    oily substancenouncountable
    A lipid found in body tissue, the bloodstream, and foods, which may be solid or liquid at room temperature, or a manufactured substance chemically resembling such lipids.

    Doctors often advise replacing some of the saturated fats in your diet with the unsaturated fats found in nuts, fish, and olive oil.

    Margarine is a manufactured fat made to look, spread, and taste much like butter.

    UsageUse fats for different kinds, as in saturated fats and healthy fats. Dietary fat refers to fat in the diet generally.

    Similarlipid

    Note

    Kristin Lawless's Formerly Known as Food (2018) ranks the highly saturated fats (lard, tallow, butter, coconut and palm oils) as the most stable under heat.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  2. 2
    body tissuenoununcountable
    Soft tissue under the skin and around organs that stores energy, including the fatty parts of meat eaten as food.

    During hibernation, a bear lives off the fat it built up before winter.

    Excess energy from food is stored throughout the body as fat.

  3. 3
    overweightadjective
    Carrying more fat on the body than usual; plump rather than lean or thin.

    The vet warned that the dog was getting too fat for its breed.

    She had always been a little fat, and felt comfortable that way.

    UsageForms fatter, fattest. Said of people it is blunt and can hurt; overweight, heavy or plump are gentler.

    Similaroverweight, plump, heavy, obese, stout

    Oppositethin, slim, lean, skinny

  4. 4
    bulkyadjective
    Thick, wide, or full and rounded; bigger in bulk than usual.

    He handed over a fat folder stuffed with documents.

    The plumber fitted a fat pipe beneath the sink.

    Similarthick, bulky, chunky, wide

    Oppositethin, slim, narrow, slender

  5. 5
    very greatadjectiveslang
    Great or substantial, used as an intensifier; in phrases such as fat chance and a fat lot, used ironically to mean very little or none.

    Fat chance the landlord fixes the heater before winter.

    A fat lot he cares about anyone's feelings but his own.

    Note

    A slang intensifier that can be meant straight or turned inside out. Lou Sullivan's diary of the early 1970s has guys 'in a fat hurry', which is a real hurry. In set phrases like fat chance and a fat lot, the intensity is ironic: a fat chance is hardly any chance. Tone and phrase decide which reading is meant.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Lou Sullivan's personal diary describes guys as being 'in a fat hurry'. en.wiktionary.org
  6. 6
    paying welladjective
    Bringing in or having a lot of money; lucrative or prosperous.

    Investors chased the fat returns the fund promised.

    He retired on a fat pension after thirty years.

    UsageBefore money words: a fat salary, fat profits, a fat contract.

    Similarlucrative, large, hefty, generous, handsome

    Oppositemeager, small, modest, paltry

    Note

    A word long at home among church posts and paid positions: a fat benefice, a fat office, a fat job. Thomas Carlyle's Reminiscences (1881) mentions 'a fat living in Suffolk'. The fat is the income that comes with the place. In modern use it passes easily to returns and pensions.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of fat apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 3–7, 11–14, 16, 18

Proto-West Germanic *fait ("fat") gave the verb *faitijan ("to make fat"). Its past participle *faitid ("fatted") became Old English fǣtt ("fatted, fat") and then Middle English fat.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • Proto-West Germanic *fait meant “fat” and gave the verb *faitijan, meaning “to make fat”. en.wiktionary.org
  • *faitid, meaning “fatted”, was the past participle of *faitijan. en.wiktionary.org
  • Proto-West Germanic *faitid became Old English fǣtt, meaning “fatted, fat”. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English fǣtt became Middle English fat. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 1–2, 8–10, 15, 17, 19

The noun grew out of the adjective in Middle English, where it was spelled fat, with a possible contribution from Old English fǣt ("fat"), a word found in only one record. Proto-West Germanic *fait and, before it, Proto-Germanic *faitą, *faitaz ("fat") lie behind that Old English word.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • The noun developed from the adjective in Middle English, with the spelling fat. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English fǣt, meaning fat, may also have contributed to the noun. en.wiktionary.org
  • The Old English noun fǣt is recorded only once. en.wiktionary.org
  • The Old English noun derives from Proto-West Germanic *fait and ultimately Proto-Germanic *faitą, *faitaz, meaning fat. en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 20–21

Proto-Indo-European *pod- ("vessel") led to Proto-Germanic *fatą ("vessel") and Old English fæt, meaning "vat, vessel, jar, cup," which became Middle English fat. Dutch vat ("barrel, vessel") and German Fass ("barrel") are related.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  • Proto-Indo-European *pod- meant “vessel” and gave rise to Proto-Germanic *fatą. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English fæt descended from Proto-Germanic *fatą (“vessel”) and meant “vat, vessel, jar, cup.” en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English fæt became Middle English fat. en.wiktionary.org
  • Dutch vat (“barrel, vessel”) and German Fass (“barrel”) are cognates. en.wiktionary.org