He was a tall, sturdy man.

[99bottles]

He was a tall, sturdy man.

Is this sentence correct? On Longman, I just happened to come across this definition for 'sturdy': 'Short, strong and healthy looking.'

However, in other dictionaries, it was nowhere mentioned that a sturdy person has to be short. In fact, I googled 'a tall, sturdy man/woman' and found many results.

So, is it wrong to use the word 'sturdy' to describe a tall person? And if it's wrong, what word should I use instead?

 

[5jj]

So, is it wrong to use the word 'sturdy' to describe a tall person?

No.

 

[probus]

I agree with 5jj.

As I've remarked before in these pages, 99bottles, dictionaries vary both in their goals and their quality. In my opinion, any with Oxford in their name are reliable. At the opposite end of the spectrum is urbandictionary. It has its uses to be sure, but even native speakers may be uncertain whether it is accurate in many cases.