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sinewy

UK/ˈsɪnjuːi/US/ˈsɪnjuːi/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,214 of 15,258neutral

Sinewy means lean and strong, with the muscles showing. A sinewy arm, sinewy and tough, sinewy meat.

Of a person it is admiring: strength without bulk. Of meat it is a complaint, because sinew is connective tissue and does not soften quickly — long slow cooking is the answer. Note sinew, which means a tendon; and that the word is Old English.

Definitions of sinewy

  1. 1adjectivesinewyLean and strong, with the muscles showing.C1

    “The old farmer had sinewy arms from a lifetime of hard work.”

    synonyms: wiry, muscular

sinewy is a quality of lean strength.

Where it comes from

Middle English synwy is sinew plus -y. Sinew comes from Old English sinu, a tendon.

  1. Middle English

    synwy

  2. English, today

    sinewy

Built from

  • synowy · Middle English — tendonous

Middle English synwy, synewy, synowy (“tendonous”); equivalent to sinew + y.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

sinewy in the wild

  • The historian James Taylor described Graham as "tall, square-shouldered, and erect, his limbs sinewy and remarkably strong.

    Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch

  • Like the Grindylow, Peg Powler and Jenny Greenteeth she will reach out with her long sinewy arms and drag children beneath the water if they get too close.

    Nelly Longarms

  • The cheeks of a cow (which used those muscles to chew cud) are typically "sinewy" and should be trimmed down by a butcher before being used by cooks.

    Beef cheek

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • sinew