congeal
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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to change from a soft or fluid state to a rigid or solid state, as by cooling or freezing.
The fat congealed on the top of the soup.
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to curdle; coagulate, as a fluid.
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to make or become fixed, as ideas, sentiments, or principles.
Some philosophic systems lost their vitality and congealed.
verb
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to change or cause to change from a soft or fluid state to a firm or solid state
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to form or cause to form into a coagulated mass; curdle; jell
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(intr) (of ideas) to take shape or become fixed in form
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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congealabilitynoun
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congealablenessnoun
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congealednessnoun
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congealernoun
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congealmentnoun
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uncongealverb (used without object)
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congealableadjective
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half-congealedadjective
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noncongealingadjective
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uncongealableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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congealsimple
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congealssimple
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have congealedperfect
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has congealedperfect
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am congealingprogressive
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are congealingprogressive
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is congealingprogressive
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have been congealingperfect progressive
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has been congealingperfect progressive
Past
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congealedsimple
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had congealedperfect
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was congealingprogressive
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were congealingprogressive
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had been congealingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of congeal
1350–1400; Middle English congelen (< Middle French congeler ) < Latin congelāre, equivalent to con- con- + gelāre to freeze; see gelid
Explanation
Congeal means to jell — to solidify or become gelatinous. Sounds gross? But wiggly Jell-O is actually congealed liquid, so it can't be that bad, right? This word comes to us from the Old French word congeler, which means "to freeze." So when something congeals it goes from liquid to solid form, almost like freezing. No one usually likes congealed anything — whether it's chunkified old soup in the fridge or dried blood on a wound. See? Pretty gross. Jell-O is about as good as congealed gets!
Vocabulary lists containing congeal
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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:
Aim for dishes that still taste perfectly fine when eaten lukewarm, that don’t seize up or congeal the moment they cool.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2026
Plastic wipes don't disintegrate when flushed down the toilet, so when oil and fat congeal on them, so-called fatbergs form in sewers, which water companies say cost them £200m a year to clear.
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2025
Yet, Pitt can’t resist quirking up the character in ways that don’t totally congeal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2025
“They kind of take the randomness and they congeal it back into the volume. That’s the way of going from randomness to content. And that’s how you can make random videos.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 4, 2024
While hardly true, this explanation had the demonstrable advantage of permitting Jefferson’s vision of a Federalist conspiracy to congeal in a plausible pattern that formed around Washington without touching him directly.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
By episode 2, it congeals into something like a coherent picture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
The paint congeals and my spray paint spits out; it doesn't flow smoothly because it's frozen.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2025
“Myanmar Diaries” is the rare work that captures the now of a historical upheaval, pleading to us to pay attention before a brutal present congeals into the past and determines the future.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
“Measuring his success can’t only be measured on the wins and losses he has but the relationships with the players, how hard they play, how the team congeals under his leadership.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2022
The blood congeals into a long, red terrycloth rectangle.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
The queso started fine but eventually congealed into something that approximated lukewarm paste.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
In the Starkadders’ home, breakfast means congealed porridge, and cows are called Feckless, Aimless, Graceless and Pointless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
These protoplanetary disks slowly congealed into planets — so slowly, in fact, that astronomers speculated all of the protoplanetary disks that once existed have since blown away.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
Amid the monstrous heaps of twisted metal, pools of congealed oil and walls pockmarked by shrapnel, one incongruous detail catches my eye.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2024
“Dinner is served,” she announced, carrying this big plate of congealed spaghetti.
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
Its sensibility was shaped by a CD Mattingly grew up with that featured the Tahitian Choir: “this glorious, polyphonic, joyous sound,” he said, “that’s moving around itself and congealing and drifting apart.”
From New York Times ● May 15, 2023
And multiple stacks of pizza boxes, their cooling, congealing slices triggering Logan into one of the mini-tirades his character is famous for.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2023
The Reyes memorial service, and the eulogists’ stories, crystallized a thought that had been congealing around the reporting: So much is unknown.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2022
There was a slackening of air, a sense of the day congealing.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 1, 2020
A plate covered in congealing chicken wing bones sat on his lap.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
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.
