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couch potato

3 antonyms and opposites of couch potato, grouped by meaning.

Noun — A person who spends a great deal of time sitting watching television or screens and takes very little exercise.

Antonyms

gym rat fitness fanatic go-getter

How to use couch potato

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

a bit of a couch potato turn into a couch potato couch potato lifestyle

Informal but entirely mainstream, including in health campaigns and news writing.

Etymology

From couch + potato; coined by Tom Iacino in 1976 as a pun on boob tuber (from boob tube (“television”) and tuber (“potato”)); trademarked by Robert Armstrong from 1976–91.

Full origin of couch potato →

Frequently asked questions

Is couch potato an insult?

It is mildly insulting but usually affectionate or self-deprecating. People happily call themselves couch potatoes, which they would not do with a harsher word like 'slob'.

What is the British equivalent of couch potato?

British English uses couch potato freely, and also 'sofa spud' as a playful variant. 'Telly addict' covers similar ground with more emphasis on the watching than the sitting.

Why is it called a couch potato?

The image combines the couch that the person never leaves with a potato as a shapeless, inert vegetable — with a pun on the old slang term for a television as the boob tube. It is a late-twentieth-century American coinage.

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Synonyms and antonyms from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.