mushy
Americanadjective
-
mushier,
comparative
-
mushiest
superlative
-
resembling mush; pulpy.
-
Informal. overly emotional or sentimental.
mushy love letters.
adjective
-
soft and pulpy
-
informal excessively sentimental or emotional
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of mushy
Explanation
You might use the adjective mushy to describe an overripe banana or a tear-jerker of a commercial. Either way, it describes something soft. Mushy is a good word for talking about something that's doughy or pulpy, whether it's a hunk of modeling clay or your out-of-shape belly. Another way to use mushy is to mean sticky and sentimental, like a mushy love scene in a terrible movie or a mushy greeting card. Either way, the word comes from mush, or porridge, which originated from mash, or "soft mixture."
Vocabulary lists containing mushy
Sickly Sweet Treats: Sappy and Insincere Valentine Words
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The Catcher in the Rye
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Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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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:
But over the years, the mushy yellow-brown legumes "became an acquired taste like a strong cheese can, because you know how cheese can smell like dirty socks," the 47-year-old Arizonan said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
Not helping matters were the show’s taped introductions to the segments—breathy readings, delivered with mushy diction, of incomprehensible poems by Monty Richthofen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 20, 2026
After two days, I’d start eyeing my mushy backside with disdain in restaurant windows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
Add it late, or risk a mushy middle.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2025
It sounds like she’s telling him not to start with the mushy stuff again.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
The dope is dopey, and it’s unfortunately only a foray into mushier territory.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
The face buttons are also quite small but tactile and clicky, while the D-pad is accurate enough despite being a little mushier than I’d prefer.
From The Verge ● Jan. 21, 2022
Fluctuating temperatures result in growth of ice crystals, further damaging cells and creating a mushier product.
From Washington Post ● May 13, 2020
Like many of Mr. Brice’s best songs, this one molts its masculine exterior to reveal a mushier core inside.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2014
They had spoiled a bit, seemed softer and mushier, but still had a rich sweetness.
From "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
They seem as withdrawn as Simon, not wanting to call attention to themselves with anything but the mushiest phrases and most reticent rhymes — a timidity that lets the ear write them off as unimportant.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2019
If you’re tuned in to Stevie’s sonic language, his mushiest moments harbor myriad possibilities.
From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2016
And at Sunday night’s 57th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, the proceedings didn’t feel like a singalong trophy contest so much as a race to pop music’s mushiest, most self-important middle.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 8, 2015
Last week one of the chilliest, dreariest; mushiest winters in years was refusing to let go.
From Time Magazine Archive
An' all the time, like his eyes has took a layoff, Dead Shot wanders to an' fro, boastin' an' braggin' in the mushiest way about his wife.
From Faro Nell and Her Friends Wolfville Stories by W. Herbert Dunton
Definitions 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.
