doughy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of doughy
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."
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:
Keep in mind that the dumplings in this recipe are the doughy kind, made with flour, buttermilk, baking powder and baking soda.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
A doughy Pacoima gang member nicknamed “Beast,” he lived with his girlfriend and had to ask to borrow her Honda Civic, Vinton testified.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
They have been described by resident Stan Tobin as doughy - "like someone had tried to bake bread and done a lousy job" - with an odour reminiscent of vegetable oil.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2024
He often presents himself in close-up so his doughy features seem warmly welcoming.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
Dell's pretty doughy around the middle, and his large stomach vibrates as if it's been put in a can and shaken at the paint store in one of those mixing machines.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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
In the days since the retrieval, the effects of the withdrawal from the hormones are worse than the ones I had from the injections: I’m doughier than ever, exhausted, depressed.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 23, 2018
But what about the brilliant millennial marketing team at the slightly doughier, self-proclaimed "third-largest," international pizza chain Papa John’s?
From The Verge ● Aug. 30, 2016
Clara had her arm around her date, who looked doughier than I recalled, his round face almost featureless, his eyebrows vanished; even the point of his green toothpick seemed blurred.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 1, 2015
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.
