gooey

UK/ˈɡuːi/US/ˈɡui/

adjectiveB2+2 meanings Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,288 of 15,258leans spoken

Gooey means soft, sticky and stretchy. A gooey centre, gooey cheese, gooey with honey.

In food it is a compliment — a gooey brownie, gooey melted cheese — and in almost every other context it is a complaint. Applied to sentiment it means over-sweet: a gooey film. Note goo, which is the noun; and that goo and gooey are both American in origin and both quite recent, which is unusual for words that feel so basic.

Definitions of gooey

1adjectivegooeySoft, sticky and stretchy.B2+
“The chocolate cake was still warm and gooey in the middle.”
- Said"The middle's still gooey; that's how a brownie should be."
- WrittenThe marshmallow went gooey over the fire and stuck to everyone's sleeves.
- UsedTake the brownies out early for a gooey centre.
- ContrastGooey, not sticky. Sticky clings to your fingers; gooey also stretches, soft and thick, when you pull it. sticky →
- Not thisRunny chocolate is not gooey. Gooey holds together as it pulls.
- Exchange"Is it gooey inside?""Very. Get a spoon."
- SimplyThe cake is gooey. It is soft in the middle.
Patterngooey + noun (brownie, centre, cheese) · soft and gooey · goo
2adjectivesentimentalOver-sentimental.C1
“The film ends with a gooey love scene that made my brother groan.”

gooey is a quality of stickiness.

Remember it

GOOey → full of GOO

Pull the pizza apart and the hot cheese stretches in long soft strings: gooey.

Where it comes from

Goo plus -ey, both American and recent — goo appears about 1900 with no certain origin. Words that feel this basic are usually much older.

From goo + -y. The is derived from goo + -ey (a variant of -y). The is derived from the adjective.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in In the Kitchen

Practise this word

← Vocabulary