ooze
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
oozes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
oozed,
past participle, past
-
oozing
present participle
-
(of moisture, liquid, etc.) to flow, percolate, or exude slowly, as through holes or small openings.
-
to move or pass slowly or gradually, as if through a small opening or passage.
The crowd oozed toward the entrance.
-
(of a substance) to exude moisture.
-
(of something abstract, as information or courage) to appear or disappear slowly or imperceptibly (often followed by out oraway ).
His cockiness oozed away during my rebuttal speech.
-
to display some characteristic or quality.
to ooze with piety.
verb (used with object)
-
oozes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
oozed,
past participle, past
-
oozing
present participle
-
to make by oozing.
-
to exude (moisture, air, etc.) slowly.
-
to display or dispense freely and conspicuously.
He can ooze charm when it serves his interest.
noun
-
Geology. a calcareous or siliceous mud composed chiefly of the shells of one-celled organisms, covering parts of the ocean bottom.
-
soft mud, or slime.
-
a marsh or bog.
verb
-
(intr) to flow or leak out slowly, as through pores or very small holes
-
to exude or emit (moisture, gas, etc)
-
(tr) to overflow with
to ooze charm
-
to disappear or escape gradually
noun
-
a slow flowing or leaking
-
an infusion of vegetable matter, such as sumach or oak bark, used in tanning
noun
-
a soft thin mud found at the bottom of lakes and rivers
-
a fine-grained calcareous or siliceous marine deposit consisting of the hard parts of planktonic organisms
-
muddy ground, esp of bogs
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
oozesimple
-
oozessimple
-
have oozedperfect
-
has oozedperfect
-
am oozingprogressive
-
are oozingprogressive
-
is oozingprogressive
-
have been oozingperfect progressive
-
has been oozingperfect progressive
Past
-
oozedsimple
-
had oozedperfect
-
was oozingprogressive
-
were oozingprogressive
-
had been oozingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ooze1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun wose, woze, Old English wōs “juice, moisture”; verb derivative of the noun
Origin of ooze2
First recorded before 900; Middle English wose, woze, Old English wāse “mud, slime”
Explanation
The beauty of the word ooze is not only that it's both a noun and a verb but also that the word sounds like what it means. The ooze on the bottom of the pond oozed between your toes. When something oozes, it seeps out slowly in an unappetizing way. Cheese sauce oozes out of the container. Sludge oozes out of a treatment plant. Cream oozes out of a tube. Whatever is oozing is referred to as ooze. After an oil spill, a cleanup crew has to clean up the ooze that collects on the shore. It can also be used to describe someone's behavior if it's especially awful. A person who is really bad, for example, can be said to ooze evil.
Vocabulary lists containing ooze
Scrabble: Four-Letter Words with 3 Vowels
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James and the Giant Peach
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Shiloh
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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:
They don’t ooze the urgency or arrogance that defined other Yankee eras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"I was so red, my skin was so tight, then it would flake, then it would ooze, and then the cycle would begin again."
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
When under stress, the ropes ooze tar, which attracts bees.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
Bathers are an artistic signal for life crawling onto shore out of the primordial ooze or basking in a pastoral, prelapsarian paradise.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
These bats were insect eaters, and the guano was an ooze of digested insects.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Nestled in the wooded hills of Austria's Styria region, the town of Leoben oozes tradition with its pastel-coloured buildings and quaint central square boasting a 13th-century church.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Building on the creative strides of “Hackney Diamonds,” their 24th studio effort, “Foreign Tongues” oozes with soulful R&B and high-octane rock.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
"Everything about her just oozes elegance and I hope she knows how appreciated she is among us. She dictates the way that you play."
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
“One of the underrated aspects when you’re watching wide receivers is toughness, and he kind of oozes toughness,” said Daniel Jeremiah, lead draft analyst for NFL Network.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026
The walnuts are soft and buttery and the sugar syrup oozes out, dripping down my chin.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
A 20-year-old with ear piercings and ripped skinny jeans, Johnson oozed charisma; his profile on the app skyrocketed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
I watched in awe as melted cheese oozed out from inside, forming a delicious crust along the edges of my cooked omelette.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
Infiniti oozed glamour in a lilac sleeveless Louis Vuitton dress with a fitted bodice and a cascade of ruffles tumbling from her hip to the floor, creating a long train.
From Barron's ● Mar. 15, 2026
He oozed confidence and warmth when he spoke about how healing from an accident a few years prior inspired him to become a physical therapist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
It oozed down his face and dribbled off his ears.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
At the buffet for the central command post in Lege-Cap-Ferret, it takes two full-size catering trays to contain the range of artisanal cheeses crumbling or oozing onto the warm metal for the firefighters' pleasure.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
After winning the Her Award for their collaboration, “Girl, Get Up,” Doechii and SZA accepted the award together, oozing mutual love and respect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
This mammoth died nearby, but his carcass slumped into an ancient stream bed and was covered by sediment and eventually topped by the pits’ oozing asphalt, encasing and preserving his bones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Even budget dinners, the kind you’d normally rush through, take on the gravity of occasion when they emerge golden, oozing, crisp-edged.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2025
The sores on his ankles are cracked and oozing.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
