glutinous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of glutinous
1375–1425; late Middle English; < Latin glūtinōsus gluey, sticky. See gluten, -ous
Explanation
When you step in a glutinous substance, some of it will stick to your shoe and stretch as you step up. Glutinous means glue-like, or thick and sticky. The Latin word for glue was gluten, which is now the name of a substance found in wheat. Gluten is what makes pizza or bread dough stretchy and gooey, or glutinous. If you're baking a cake, you shouldn't mix it too much or it could become glutinous, or tough. When someone is on a gluten-free diet, it means they cannot eat wheat or other grains that contain gluten.
Vocabulary lists containing glutinous
Inside Out & Back Again
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All The Feels: Touching Words For Textures
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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.
For Hughes, it is "very exciting" so see fresh momentum behind saving the glutinous snail.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
One influencer gained 1.5 million views by chowing down on a model house made entirely of the glutinous strips.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
I started making pancakes with thinner and thinner batter, and replaced all-purpose flour with glutinous rice flour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
So Barba and Lerew stepped to the vat and uncovered it, revealing a glutinous stew of rags and vaseline, once integral to the tattoo process; the stew’s age and precise contents are uncertain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2024
But he whooped also, croaking hoarsely, glutinous, joyful sounds, riding that bright yellow Ladd Devine backhoe westward, ever westward— Toward the gorge.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
