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Synonyms

glob

American  
[glob] / glɒb /

noun

  • globs
    plural
  1. a drop or globule of a liquid.

  2. a usually rounded quantity or lump of some plastic or moldable substance.

    a little glob of clay; a huge glob of whipped cream.


glob British  
/ ɡlɒb /

noun

  1. informal a rounded mass of some thick fluid or pliable substance

    a glob of cream

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of glob

1895–1900; perhaps blend of globe and blob

Explanation

A glob is a shapeless clump or hunk of something. Even the most skilled potter starts out with nothing but a glob of damp clay on her pottery wheel. Globs are soft, squishy, or partly liquid substances — you can't really have a glob of pizza, but you can add a glob of melty mozzarella to the top of a pizza. An artist drops globs of oil paint on her palette, and a chocolate maker fills molds with globs of warm melted chocolate. While we know glob first appeared in print around 1900, its origin isn't clear. It may have imitated words like blob and gob.

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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:

If eaten in the right order, locals say, fresh notes should emerge with each glob on the flight: caramel, custard and finally, an almost alcoholic bitterness heralding the Musang King.

From BBC Jan. 10, 2026

"It represents who I am, I think," said Braathen, who left the Norwegian set-up in 2023 after clinching the World Cup slalom crystal glob and announced his link-up with the Brazilian federation in March 2024.

From Barron's Nov. 16, 2025

“Not, put it on the baseball, not glob the baseball with it, but put a little pine tar on their fingertips and give them a little better adherence to the baseball.”

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 20, 2025

"It's basically a glob of randomness," Xue said.

From Science Daily Jan. 4, 2024

Her glue gun dripped a glob of hot stuff onto her papers.

From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor

Despite the warnings, I have removed satisfying globs of wax.

From Slate Jul. 26, 2025

Today she reaches the peak of her canvases by riding a scissor lift, which sits behind her worktable, its metal bars speckled with globs of paint in many different colors.

From New York Times Feb. 29, 2024

Or crouched in the apartment hallway, scooping up globs of spilled cheesecake with Rachel.

From Los Angeles Times Oct. 30, 2023

Attached to a vertical glass slab, these globs — spearmint green, bubble gum pink, cherry red, Winterfresh blue — form an abstract collage that may look familiar to some.

From Seattle Times Jul. 27, 2023

Then Baachan spooned two big globs of bacon grease into a pan and set it on the stove before lighting the fire.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

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