chewy
Americanadjective
-
chewier,
comparative
-
chewiest
superlative
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of chewy
Explanation
Chewy things have a springy quality when you grind them between your teeth. When you get braces, you have to avoid chewy foods like hard bagels and sticky toffee. Chewy things really give your jaws a workout when you eat them. Foods as varied as pizza crusts, overcooked meat, and dried apricots all have one thing in common: You have to chew them well before swallowing, and there's a firmness or stickiness between your teeth as you eat. Chewy comes from chew and its Old English root, ceowan.
Vocabulary lists containing chewy
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:
In a video watched 2.8 million times, a foreign reviewer described it as "kind of like chewy tofu" and "very oily".
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Neither chewy, gooey nor crumbly, it was a grown-up way for me to get my chocolate fix—dessert and mouth freshener in one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Greasy, salty, chewy and—as Richard Wilbur wrote of the potato—“beautiful only to hunger,” they simply taste good.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
The Taiwanese beverage, which blends black tea, milk, sugar, and chewy tapioca pearls, has spread worldwide since it first appeared in the 1980s.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 1, 2026
It’s the chewy chocolate chip peanut butter kind Avery likes best.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Their dollars are flowing to niche names with more cultural cachet, from fancy new protein bars to chewier candy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2025
Mrs Cole said it took her 40 minutes to cook and was therefore tougher and chewier.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2023
Mary Ellen’s advice: Don’t roll out the dough too thin, because a thicker cookie will be softer and chewier.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2022
While I sometimes go for the spicier original, this premium “black” option is richer with chewier noodles and tastier freeze-dried veggies, which all makes for a hearty meal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
It is chewier and has a more nut-like flavor.
From The Perdue Chicken Cookbook by Mitzi Perdue
The lobster is pleasantly oceanic-tasting and then, sadly, the chewiest I’ve ever encountered, chewing and chewing like a wad of seafood-flavored bubble gum.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
"Oh, I think this one is the chewiest," said my dad, waving around a chocolate chip.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2021
The chewiest, knottiest song here is the title track, which concludes the album, a six-minute meditation that feels designed, after a half-hour of reckoning, to be inconclusive.
From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2020
Mr. Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” is as much of a slog as any great album in recent memory and probably the chewiest major-label hip-hop album in more than a decade.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2012
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.
