gel
Americannoun
-
gels
plural
-
Physical Chemistry. a semirigid colloidal dispersion of a solid with a liquid or gas, as jelly, glue, etc.
-
Theater. gelatin.
-
Biochemistry. a semirigid polymer, as agarose, starch, cellulose acetate, or polyacrylamide, cast into slabs or cylinders for the electrophoretic separation of proteins and nucleic acids.
verb (used without object)
-
gels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gelled,
past participle, past
-
gelling
present participle
-
to form or become a gel.
-
jell.
noun
verb
-
to become or cause to become a gel
-
a variant spelling of jell
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gelsimple
-
gelssimple
-
have gelledperfect
-
has gelledperfect
-
am gellingprogressive
-
are gellingprogressive
-
is gellingprogressive
-
have been gellingperfect progressive
-
has been gellingperfect progressive
Past
-
gelledsimple
-
had gelledperfect
-
was gellingprogressive
-
were gellingprogressive
-
had been gellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gel
First recorded in 1895–1900; shortening of gelatin
Vocabulary lists containing gel
Theater - Middle School
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Theater - High School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Vocabulary from Readings 3, Unit 2
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Pimple patches containing a gel called hydrocolloid can absorb fluids from oozing pimples and stop you from picking at them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
He donates the venison to food pantries because he has alpha-gal and his son “almost died from anaphylactic shock from two Advil gel caps,” he told me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
This may be a matter of players requiring time to gel.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
They combined three immune-boosting proteins in a gel and placed it directly beneath the scalp.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
After a while, you buy it for me—some sort of clear; sticky gel that smells like bad perfume.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
If it did, the attempt to recreate the first film’s magic would’ve come with plenty of film stock and some colored gels to make sure every shot isn’t washed out in jaundiced yellow.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
However, those gels still need to be surgically implanted.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
"As sport nutritionists we were all fascinated at what the fuelling programme was, and it was the sports drinks and gels that played a huge part of that fuelling," Close says.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
“These consumers are saying, ‘I don’t really like buying laundry detergent and shower gels, they’re not terribly exciting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
“They’ll also have energy gels for you at the water stops,” he told me.
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
The cast of the Sky show appear to have gelled well over its run.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
The older players had a good relationship with Robins, but when Lampard arrived the younger members - who grew up watching him play for Chelsea and Manchester City - gelled with him quickly.
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026
But when she arrives at Iona’s apartment, Andie is shocked to see that a coiffed perm, light makeup, a sensible suit and a string of pearls have replaced her friend’s beehives and gelled spikes.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
After treatment with dancing molecules, the gelled nanofiber scaffold reduced inflammation, shrank glial scarring, stimulated neurite extension, and encouraged neurons to grow in organized patterns.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 16, 2026
Even if the big guy is actually a five-foot-three, flamboyantly dressed land developer with stupendously gelled hair.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
There’s a rhythm and a quality of engagement that I learned completely in the theater world that applied to the gelling and the cohesion of “Rooster” in all of the scenes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
Many vegan meat alternatives also use gelling agents that bind water and fat.
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2024
We want to see goals, we want to see defending, great assists, the team really gelling together on the pitch.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2022
A unit that was overhauled in the offseason by free-agent signings and has taken time to develop chemistry due to injuries and inconsistency, may finally be gelling at just the right time.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2021
Now, as the skipper was a very sharp fellow, and perfectly understood his business-practically anticipating the Transatlantic axiom of buying at the cheapest market and gelling at the dearest-he soon contrived to grow rich.
From The Star-Chamber, Volume 1 An Historical Romance by William Harrison Ainsworth
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
