gooey

adjective

goo·​ey ˈgü-ē 

gooier; gooiest

1

informal : soft, wet, and sticky

a gooey mess

With its warm, gooey goodness, this dessert will bring bananas Foster to mind.

—Lillian Chou

Researchers in Japan have extracted a new, gooey, and potentially useful protein from the bodies of jellyfish.

—S. Webb

The order might also include poutine, the gooey mass of French fries smothered in gravy and melted cheese curds that is now beginning to win fans and clog arteries outside Quebec.

—Charles Boberg

2

informal : excessively sweet or sentimental : cloying

gooey sentimentality

a gooey romance

Compared with the hardscrabble mountain and mill-town tale of the father, the soft-edged suburban narrative of the stepson and Bragg's relationship with him feels gooey and romanticized.

—Christopher Dickey

gooeyness

ˈgü-ē-nəs 

noun informal

Ads for food in all of its present-day forms abound in glorious color—from the crackle and crunch of fast-food fried chicken to the gooeyness of a pizza's cheese …

—Judith Crist

I rejoice in a children's film that avoids gooeyness …

—Richard Alleva

Synonyms

• chocolate-box
• cloying
• corny
• drippy
• fruity
• lovey-dovey
• maudlin
• mawkish
• mushy
• novelettish
• saccharine
• sappy
• schmaltzy
• sentimental
• sloppy
• slushy
• soppy
• soupy
• spoony
• spooney
• sticky
• sugarcoated
• sugary
• wet

Examples of gooey in a Sentence

things get especially gooey during the scene in which the lovers are reunited at long last

Recent Examples on the Web

When bird leftovers are particularly gooey, they’re analyzed by DNA-sequencing machines that the Museum of Natural History keeps in-house. —Krista Stevens, Longreads, 8 July 2024

Brushed with butter, the sandwich is pressed until the crust is crisp and the cheese is gooey. —New York Times, 18 June 2024

From the legendary Brooklyn Blackout Company comes these sweet and gooey cookies that are a perfect treat for you and your Valentine. —Meaghan Kenny, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Jan. 2024

There's a fun couch co-op mode where a second player controls a spectral, gooey version of Luigi to help solve puzzles. —Louryn Strampe, WIRED, 10 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

gooey

adjective

goo·​ey

ˈgü-ē

informal

1

: soft, wet, and sticky

2

: excessively sentimental

gooeyness noun