jell

play

verb \ ˈjel \

Definition of jell

intransitive verb

1 :to take shape and achieve distinctness :become cohesive

2 :to come to the consistency of jelly :congeal, set

transitive verb

:to cause to jell

See jell defined for English-language learners

See jell defined for kids

Examples of jell in a Sentence

Our plans are finally starting to jell.
Boil the jam until it begins to jell.

Recent Examples of jell from the Web

A young defense will need time to jell, with goalie Jillian Savageau the steadying influence. 2.

— glenn graham, baltimoresun.com, "Girls Soccer Preseason Top 15 Poll," 29 Aug. 2017
The ability to begin basketball activities in August will give the team time to jell on and off the court.

— paul doyle, courant.com, "UConn Women's Notebook: Geno Will Play Host As Team Visits Italy," 7 Aug. 2017
But the persistent unpopularity of Republican repeal efforts has weighed heavily on GOP plans, suggesting that Americans’ skepticism has jelled over months of debate.

— emily guskin, Washington Post, "Republicans’ Obamacare repeal was never really that popular," 28 July 2017
The surge, however, often resulted in one of the game’s 55 turnovers because the squads hadn’t had much time to jell during this week’s activities.

— callie caplan, baltimoresun.com, "Second-quarter surge helps North boys win Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Game," 1 July 2017
But the group seemed to jell early on, hence the hoots and hollers from the back of the bus on the first full day.

— terri colby, The Seattle Times, "Traveling solo, but not alone, on Italy’s Amalfi Coast," 16 June 2017
While those plans will take some time to jell, there’s already a tentative window for the 2018 edition of the games: June 7-10.

— scott n. miller, The Denver Post, "Estimated 80,000 people, 3,300 athletes attend 2017 GoPro Mountain Games," 13 June 2017
First of all, nobody was quite sure how LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would jell.

— matt calkins, The Seattle Times, "Kevin Durant could finally get title with Golden State, and what does that prove?," 31 May 2017
With its many story strands and flat direction, the movie lacks a pulse, its ambitious hodgepodge of concepts refusing to jell.

— sheri linden, The Hollywood Reporter, "‘96 Souls’: Film Review," 26 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'jell.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of jell

back-formation from jelly

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1869

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jell Synonyms

Synonyms

crystallize (also crystalize), form, shape (up), solidify

Related Words

associate, coalesce, cohere, fuse; combine, conjoin, conjugate, connect, couple, join, link (up), unify, unite

Near Antonyms

break down, decay, decompose, disintegrate

Other Food Terms

Reuben, calamari, chuck, curry, edamame, foie gras, hummus, leaven, nonpareil, peel

JELL Defined for English Language Learners

jell

play

verb

Definition of jell for English Language Learners

: to become clear and definite
: to change into a thick substance that is like jelly

JELL Defined for Kids

jell

play

verb \ ˈjel \

Definition of jell for Students

jelled; jelling

1 :to become as firm as jelly :set

2 :to take shape

After much thought an idea jelled.

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See words that rhyme with jell Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for jell Spanish Central: Translation of jell Nglish: Translation of jell for Spanish speakers

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