Muscular \Mus"cu*lar\, a. [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.
[1913 Webster]
Great muscular strength, accompanied by much
awkwardness. --Macaulay.
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2. Performed by, or dependent on, a muscle or the muscles.
"The muscular motion." --Arbuthnot.
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3. Well furnished with muscles; having well-developed
muscles; brawny; hence, strong; powerful; vigorous; as, a
muscular body or arm.
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Muscular Christian, one who believes in a part of religious
duty to maintain a healthful and vigorous physical state.
--T. 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. --T. Hughes.
(b) An active, robust, and cheerful Christian life, as
opposed to a meditative and gloomy one. --C. Kingsley.
Muscular excitability (Physiol.), that property in virtue
of which a muscle shortens, when it is stimulated;
irritability; contractility.
Muscular sense (Physiol.), 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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
muscular
adj 1: of or relating to or consisting of muscle; "muscular
contraction"
2: having a robust muscular body-build characterized by
predominance of structures (bone and muscle and connective
tissue) developed from the embryonic mesodermal layer
[syn: mesomorphic] [ant: ectomorphic, endomorphic]
3: having or suggesting great physical power or force; "the
muscular and passionate Fifth Symphony"
4: (of a person) possessing physical strength and weight;
rugged and powerful; "a hefty athlete"; "a muscular
boxer"; "powerful arms" [syn: brawny, hefty, powerful,
sinewy]
WordNet (r) 2.0
34 Moby Thesaurus words for "muscular":
Herculean, able-bodied, athletic, beefy, brawny, broad-shouldered,
burly, elastic, fibrous, flexible, husky, mighty, muscle-bound,
powerful, resilient, robust, ropy, rugged, sinewy, springy,
stalwart, stout, strapping, stringy, strong, sturdy, supple, thewy,
thickset, well-built, well-knit, well-set, well-set-up, wiry
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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