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 of gooey

• sentimental
• sticky
• sloppy
• fuzzy
• wet
• mushy
• sugary

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

The gooey cheese pulls create kind of a mess with your hands, but cutting with a fork and knife feels too formal for pizza. — Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2026

With this Southern favorite, nailing the gooey texture is essential. — Bianca Lambert, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2026

Today’s top glosses are more elegant in texture, infused with nourishing ingredients, and don’t leave your lips feeling sticky and gooey like those of your childhood—but still give you the same beloved reflective shine and volume. — Tasha Nicole Smith, Allure, 2 Nov. 2026

This rich, gooey pie combines the flavor goodness of chocolate on the bottom and pecan pie on the top. — Ginger Crichton, Midwest Living, 29 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for gooey

• buoy
• chewy
• dewy
• cestui
• ennui

Kids Definition

gooey

adjective

goo·​ey ˈgü-ē 

informal

1

: soft, wet, and sticky

2

: excessively sentimental

gooeyness noun