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Synonyms

doughy

American  
[doh-ee] / ˈdoʊ i /

adjective

doughier, doughiest
  1. of or like dough, especially in being soft and heavy or pallid and flabby.

    a doughy consistency; a fat, doughy face.


doughy British  
/ ˈdəʊɪ /

adjective

  1. resembling dough in consistency, colour, etc; soft, pallid, or flabby

"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

Etymology

Origin of doughy

First recorded in 1595–1605; dough + -y 1

Explanation

Something that's doughy is as squishy and soft as uncooked dough. If your cookies always come out a little doughy, you might not be baking them long enough. Some foods are deliberately doughy, like a very soft steamed dumpling or a delicious doughy doughnut. Others are doughy by accident, because they've been undercooked or made incorrectly. You can describe other things as doughy too, if they're cushiony — a kitten might purr as it kneads its mother's doughy belly, for example. Doughy comes from dough, with its Indo-European root meaning "smear" or "knead."

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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:

The mochi balls of doughy rice filled with ice-cream exploded on TikTok, but its apparent overnight success was more than a decade in the making.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

I called Barcelona home for a spell, and I feel the draw to cap this visit by seeing an old doughy friend.

From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026

He often presents himself in close-up so his doughy features seem warmly welcoming.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2024

Even the doom-laden everything bagel that provides the film’s titular motif is redeemed, by the end, as a doughy symbol of wholeness, a poppy-seed circle of life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2023

Then he did the same with the bread, rolling it into doughy balls.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

Papo’s is part of a wave of new shops in Britain selling New York-style bagels, distinct for being bigger, doughier and more heavily seasoned than their London counterparts.

From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2024

Think of it as a cross between orecchiette and gnocchi, as it's slightly doughier than many other rolled pastas.

From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2022

That’s obviously not ideal for a comfortable grip, and I find myself wishing for the Pixel 3 XL’s doughier sides.

From The Verge ● Oct. 24, 2018

The older man was doughier and less healthy-looking than he appeared in photographs, Harris told me, but he had little doubt as to his identity.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 15, 2018

These different homemade mixtures exhibit different behaviors: a doughier slime will shrink back on itself, only fleetingly changed by the probe of a finger.

From The New Yorker ● May 17, 2017

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