muscular
AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Adjective (4)
- of or relating to or consisting of muscle“muscular contraction”Relating to muscle
- having a robust muscular body-build characterized by predominance of structures (bone and muscle and connective tissue) developed from the embryonic mesodermal layerSynonyms: mesomorphicSimilar athletic
- having or suggesting great physical power or force“the muscular and passionate Fifth Symphony”Opposite powerlessSimilar powerful
- (of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful“a hefty athlete”“a muscular boxer”“powerful arms”Synonyms: brawnyheftypowerfulsinewyOpposite weakSimilar strongSee also swole
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: Cf. F. musculaire. See Muscle.
1. Of or pertaining to a muscle, or to a system of muscles; consisting of, or constituting, a muscle or muscles; as, muscular fiber.
Great muscular strength, accompanied by much awkwardness.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
2. Performed by, or dependent on, a muscle or the muscles. “The muscular motion.” John Arbuthnot
3. Well furnished with muscles; having well-developed muscles; brawny; hence, strong; powerful; vigorous; as, a muscular body or arm.
Muscular Christian, one who believes in a part of religious duty to maintain a healthful and vigorous physical state. Thomas Hughes — Muscular Christianity. (a) The practice and opinion of those Christians who believe that it is a part of religious duty to maintain a vigorous condition of the body, and who therefore approve of athletic sports and exercises as conductive to good health, good morals, and right feelings in religious matters. Thomas Hughes (b) An active, robust, and cheerful Christian life, as opposed to a meditative and gloomy one. Charles Kingsley — Muscular excitability Physiology, that property in virtue of which a muscle shortens, when it is stimulated; irritability; contractility. — Muscular sense Physiology, muscular sensibility; the sense by which we obtain knowledge of the condition of our muscles and to what extent they are contracted, also of the position of the various parts of our bodies and the resistance offering by external objects.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54