gooey

comparative gooeyer · comparative gooier · superlative gooeyest · superlative gooiest

1. informalHaving the consistency of goo: soft or viscous, and sticky.

   gooey liquid covered the floor

   5 more examples

   The cookies, soft and gooey, proved a smash hit at the party.

   [O]ysters, ice-cream, and plenty of chocolates with that goo-ey, slithery stuff in the middle. Makes you sick to think of it, eh?

   1929 October, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Episode of the Dog McIntosh”, in Very Good, Jeeves!, London: Herbert Jenkins Limited […], published 20 June 1930, →OCLC, page 121

   He would dip the point of the yen hok into a jar of dark-brown gooey stuff that looked like tar [opium], then hold a drop over the flame until it began to swell up like a tiny balloon, adding more to it now and then.

   1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 46

   To avoid the gooiest mess you ever saw, plus the banshee howls of your support people, empty all of the gasoline from the gravity feed gas can of the PU-422/U generator set (which powers both radars).

   1964, “Communications: Tips on the Tipsies”, in PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, number 135, Fort Knox, Ky.: Department of the Army, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 46

   You and your guests will get past the slight appearance problem when you taste the warm finished cake: the brown crust is like the ideal macaroon, and the center has the gooey, custardlike texture of a proper pecan pie.

   2009 September 13, Amanda Hesser, “Recipe redux: Huguenot torte, 1965”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022

   Synonyms: goolike, ooey-gooey, oozy

2. figurativelyinformalEmotional or sentimental, especially to an excessive extent; mushy, soppy.

   And that cat turns my stomach. I thought you said Spaniards weren't gooey—I've never seen anybody gooeyer than she is about that thing.

   1980, Ella Leffland, “Glad Offerings”, in Last Courtesies and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 147

   4 more examples

   What flower has been bred in more than three thousand varieties, and become the symbol of the gooeyest human sentimentality and pampering?

   1956 April, H[omer] Nearing, Jr., “The Neurotic Rose”, in Leo Margulies, editor, Fantastic Universe, volume 5, number 3, New York, N.Y.: King-Size Publications, →OCLC, page 87

   Nobody goes all gooey over a character like me and talks about having half a million dollars and offers me a trip to Rio and a nice home complete with all the luxuries.

   1958, Raymond Chandler, Playback, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], page 107

   Yet sooner or later, even the most devout Disneyphobe would break down and admit that, as a child, they'd shed an elephant tear or two for Dumbo's mummy; or felt their nose growing Pinocchio-style every time they fibbed about the dog eating their homework; or simply swooned at some gooey gouached sunset.

   1997, Jonathan Romney, “The Lion King”, in Short Orders: Film Writing, London: Serpent’s Tail, →ISBN, page 129

   She could still have a family. She could afford it. If she wanted to. But she's never felt the urge. Never felt the gooey drooliness she's observed in other women when they peek into a pram.

   2002, Regi Claire, chapter 20, in The Beauty Room, Edinburgh: Polygon, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 157

   Synonyms: maudlin, mawkish, treacly, bathetic, cheesy, squishy, corny, drippy · Antonyms: unemotional, unsentimental

3. archaicfigurativelyinformalDistasteful, unpleasant.

   Mr. Hugh Dillman's Palm Beach divorce suit will be gooey, Three of his golf-playing ???? will be mentioned …

   1938 November 15, Walter Winchell, “On Broadway”, in Harold W. Sanford, editor, Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N.Y.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 3

   Synonyms: abhorrant, abhorrent, bad, sickly, mean, infernal, bum, horrid · Antonyms: acceptable, agreeable, amiable, charming, comely, nice, pleasant, pleasing

plural gooeys · plural gooies

1. informalA thing which is soft or viscous, and sticky.

   I put the "gooeys," green fluorescent snots, into Louie's nose, set up his brain, and get ready to play the game with my mom. We keep putting our fingers up Louie's nose and pulling gooeys out of it.

   1997, Paula Danziger, Amber Brown Sees Red (Amber Brown; 4), New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 99

   1 more example

   On impulse, Pat stopped at a bakery. […] He came out with a box full of gooies—éclairs, cream horns, Napoleons— […] and we parked outside the college grounds and ate them, yapping at each other and smearing ourselves with chocolate and cream.

   1964, Kit Reed, chapter II, in At War as Children […], New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Company, →OCLC, pages 17–18

2. datedderogatoryfigurativelyinformalA person who is regarded as weak or worthless; a fool.

   But only a confirmed chump and irremediable ‘gooey’ comes up for a third ‘chuck.’ […] ‘Jest jollyin’ these gooeys, that’s how’, he said.

   1911, Edward Dyson, “Dukie M’Kenzie’s Dawnce”, in Benno and Some of the Push (Bookstall Series), Sydney, N.S.W.: N.S.W. Bookstall Company, →OCLC, page 32

   Synonyms: absolute zero, assbucket, asswipe, badling, blatherskite, bugger, carrion, cipher

3. USfigurativelyinformaleducationA person who favours closer relationships with other people and less structured settings, rather than formal, organized settings; also, an educational approach, curriculum, etc., which is less structured.

   4 more examples

   Planned variation was based on systematically applying different educational approaches developed by academic experts, each of whom was to become a "sponsor" of a single type of program – from highly structured classroom models, sometimes called "pricklies," to open classrooms and more exploratory environments, dubbed "gooeys."

   1976 February 15, Pamela Moore, “Follow Through—Biggest Social Science Study Ever …”, in Daniel S[heldon] Greenberg, editor, Science & Government Report: The Independent Bulletin of Science Policy, volume IV, number 3, Washington, D.C.: Science & Government Report, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2

   Alan Watts says that these two types may be named the "prickly" people and the "gooey" people. The pricklies, he says, the Marthas, are tough-minded, rigorous, and precise and like to stress differences and divisions between things. The gooeys, the Marys, are tender-minded romanticists who love wide generalizations and grand syntheses.

   1979, Robert C. Wright, “Reminiscing and Romancing in Mid-America: Rumes, Romances, Stories, and Poems”, in Frederick Manfred, Boston, Mass.: Twayne Publishers, G[arrison] K[ent] Hall & Co., →ISBN, page 99

   Which is superior: what is known as low-structure teaching (education through experience) or high-structure instruction (stress on drill in the basics)? Many low-structure advocates, sometimes described as "gooeys," follow the theory, developed since 1920 by New York City's Bank Street College of Education, that learning must adapt to the pace of the individual child. Under this system children learn to read by being provided with a rich environment that stimulates them to learn the words they need. Many high-structure people, known in the trade as "pricklies," use the DISTAR program (for Direct Instruction Systems for Teaching and Remediation) developed at the University of Oregon. DISTAR sticks to phonics, a tightly programmed curriculum and lots of drill. […] [A] more recent local study of comparable New York City neighborhood schools showed gooeys and pricklies scoring about the same. Gooeys consistently argue that standard paper-and-pencil achievement tests are narrow and cannot measure the wide-ranging benefits of their creative approach.

   1981 November 9, Ellie McGrath, “‘Pricklies’ vs. ‘Gooeys’: Conflicting Theories of Learning in the Wake of Head Start”, in Henry Anatole Grunwald, editor, Time, volume 118, number 19, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2026

   The longstanding dispute between the phonics and whole language approaches to early instruction […] has been colourfully described as the ‘Pricklies versus the Gooies’. The ‘Pricklies’ emphasise the structure of the curriculum and provide lots of teacher-directed drill, especially in the teaching of ‘phonics’. The ‘Gooies’ emphasise the child’s self-directed exploration of print. The teacher provides guided experience, especially of whole language, in rich meaningful context.

   1992, Alan J[ohn] Watson, Anne M. Badenhop, “Introduction: Moving Out of a Shadow”, in Alan J. Watson, Anne M. Badenhop, editors, Prevention of Reading Failure, Gosford, N.S.W.: Ashton Scholastic, →ISBN, page 15

   Antonyms: prickly