Puny is a rather rare word now, you rarely hear it. Probably, it seems to people that it is already out of date, but the dictionary of such a version does not confirm. Therefore, we will analyze the meaning of the word today, it may be useful to someone.
Value
If the reader comes to mind “futility” as an association, then let him not drive it, perhaps this word is not so inappropriate. What do we know about the adjective? That it is mainly used in the phrase "puny man", it is met every at least once. And what else? When we pronounce an adjective, then an extremely thin, skinny person rises before his mind's eye. Well, it seems that we are ready to turn to the explanatory dictionary: "frail, weak."
In other words, puny is the opposite of an athlete. You can be frail not only because of age and years lived, but also because a person does not go to the gym, but all the time he sits behind textbooks. The weak are not respected, but then the smart are respected. But no one says that the harmony between the physical and the spiritual is unattainable. In other words, puny is not a sentence.
Synonyms
From words to deeds. To make the meaning of the adjective more prominent, we propose to select replacements for it that would highlight its contents with all obviousness. So the list is as follows:
- weak;
- skinny;
- frail;
- stunted;
- puny;
- flimsy;
- skinny.
Here is such a variety. By value, the adjective is “skinny”, and by synonyms at least “well-fed”. What is this talking about? Appearances are deceptive. A beautiful soul may be hiding behind an unprepossessing body, the reverse is also true, unfortunately. Many are now putting on the beauty of the body, forgetting about the soul, thus informing the adjective “puny” (and this is unexpected) another meaning that you will not find in the dictionary. But, of course, usually in this sense of the word can not be used.
Subtleties of usage and the question of the soul
We don’t know whether the reader has a lot of experience, how often he thought about the animation of our object of study today. But there is an interesting pattern: the word cannot be applied to abstract objects, but only to those that have a soul, to the living. Compose two phrases:
Feel that something doesn't fit in the second example? There is a feeling that they don’t say that. Hope is weak, vain, even futile, it is not enough, but it cannot be frail. On the contrary, the “old man” or “dog” can have an adjective in our neighbors, which we are analyzing today.
And so there is another important conclusion: only one who has both a body and a soul can be puny.
The house will be more flimsy than puny. If we apply an adjective to the subject, then a kind of compassionate picture arises: the house seems to be sick and needs treatment, probably it has a cough, a runny nose and rest is necessary. But at home, like objects, they can wear out, and metal has the notion of fatigue, but they cannot give the impression of futility, and boys, girls, or adults of all ages can. For them, a similar perspective is open and hourly and every minute passes from opportunity to reality.
However, it is enough, we think, that the meaning of the word “puny” is clear to the reader, and he will be able to use it perfectly without our help, so here we leave it.