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

Dope Thief enlivens the formula with a pair of performances from Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura that plunge us into the depths of male loneliness, then pull us out of the dark with a tender, vulnerable friendship that is as gooey and soft as the show surrounding it is bleak and bloody. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 14 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

Roasted brussels sprouts, crispy from a last-minute maple syrup drizzle, gooey green bean casserole, chunky cranberry sauce, glazed carrots, and pies. —Brian T. Allen, National Review, 28 Nov. 2024

The warm, ooey, gooey sweetness of blueberries layered with French toast is a family-favorite. —Emma Phelps, Southern Living, 27 Jan. 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