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

Next month, Cinnabon is opening a first-of-its-kind location with sister brand Carvel that mashes up Cinnabon’s hot and gooey cinnamon rolls with Carvel’s ice creams for a selection of desserts. —Jordan Valinsky, CNN Money, 8 Apr. 2025

The secret to this fantastic recipe is pockets of bursting, gooey cheese in every bite. —Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 4 Jan. 2025

Scientist Richard Arnott told National Geographic that the fish only looks so gooey because of rapid depressurization when its brought to the surface. —Greta Cross, USA TODAY, 19 Mar. 2025

Listen to this article Sean Payton, bless him, possesses all the gooey nostalgia of a starving polar bear. —Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 11 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for gooey

• buoy
• chewy
• dewy
• ennui

Kids Definition

gooey

adjective

goo·​ey

ˈgü-ē

informal

1

: soft, wet, and sticky

2

: excessively sentimental

gooeyness noun