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tumescent

/tuˈmɛsnt/
IPA guide

Something tumescent is puffy or bloated. An overripe peach could be described as tumescent, swollen and bursting with juice.

You'll often find the adjective tumescent describing body parts swelling with sexual excitement, but it can be used for anything that's distended or enlarged. Ripe fruit, puffy hairdos, bloated bellies — all of these are tumescent. Things can be figuratively tumescent too, like an actor's tumescent ego, or overblown, florid, tumescent writing: "I couldn't help giggling when she read her tumescent poetry aloud." The Latin root is tumere, "to swell."

Definitions of tumescent
  1. adjective
    swollen or distended, especially by fluids or gas
    tumescent tissue”
    synonyms: intumescent, puffy, tumid, turgid
    unhealthy
    not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind
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