jelly
Americannoun
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a food preparation of a soft, elastic consistency due to the presence of gelatin, pectin, etc., especially fruit juice boiled down with sugar and used as a sweet spread for bread and toast, as a filling for cakes or doughnuts, etc.
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any substance having the consistency of jelly.
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Chiefly British. a fruit-flavored gelatin dessert.
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a plastic sandal or shoe.
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
noun
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US and Canadian trademark: Jell-o. a fruit-flavoured clear dessert set with gelatine
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a preserve made from the juice of fruit boiled with sugar and used as jam
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a savoury food preparation set with gelatine or with a strong gelatinous stock and having a soft elastic consistency
calf's-foot jelly
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anything having the consistency of jelly
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informal a coloured gelatine filter that can be fitted in front of a stage or studio light
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of jelly
1350–1400; Middle English gely < Old French gelee frozen jelly < Medieval Latin gelāta frozen, equivalent to Latin gel- freeze + -āta -ate 1; cf. gel, cold
Explanation
Jelly is a sweet preserved form of fruit that's usually made with sugar. Your favorite breakfast might be buttered toast spread thickly with strawberry jelly. Jelly is the close relative to jam and preserves — jelly is typically more translucent than its fruitier cousins, and is sometimes made with juice rather than whole pieces of fruit. Outside of North America, jelly is a dessert made from gelatin. Jelly comes from the Old French gelee, "jelly" and also "frost," from the verb geler, "to congeal," with its Latin root gelare, "to freeze."
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:
Unfazed by the crashing waves, 72-year-old Wu Feng-chiao yanks fistfuls of brownish-purple seaweed she will process into jelly, one of the last women in Taiwan keeping the marine harvest tradition alive.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Maybe it’s homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made on pillowy Wonder Bread, with the crusts cut off.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
A queen does not emerge from royal jelly alone.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
The youngster will need further surgeries, as her parents have been told repairing her heart is like "stitching jelly" and there is more pressure on it than is typical.
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
We work until my arms are jelly and the sun is sinking.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Marine life that most people never see floated into view, including delicate comb jellies with pulsing fairy-light illuminations along their sides.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
Fancy cocktail napkins are a big seller, as are specialty jellies in flavors like hot pepper and cinnamon pear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025
It uses a cavernous hood to trap crustaceans to eat — a feeding strategy also used by anemones and some jellies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024
"Comb jellies may be the oldest animal group that exists and so they provide a unique opportunity to study basic but fundamental aspects of how animals move and interact in the world."
From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2024
They hadn’t even bothered to visit the jellies exhibit.
From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin
In the 19th century, children gobbled chiles and mutton and turnips and jellied pig’s brain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
There are close-ups of hands kneading dough, a snail sliming its way up a window and Cathy prodding a jellied fish with her finger.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Datasembly measured prices for russet potatoes, roasted turkey gravy, eight buttermilk biscuits, cut green beans, jellied cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie mix, frozen pastry pie shells, whipped topping and sweet corn.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
Among other things, the month-long event featured a pearly burka, jellied eels and a debate about who really likes pie and mash.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2023
One day he returned from a customer with galareta, a Polish dish of jellied chicken feet.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
Yet it has caused one hell of a stir, jellying the jaded reserve of hardcore automotive journalists and hard-nose collectors alike.
From The Verge ● Feb. 2, 2016
In the meantime, our stomachs jellying and our necks burning, we listened, avoided each other’s eyes, and picked toe jam or whatever.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
A whole summer of jellying and juicing, she said, hadn’t made so much mess in the kitchen.
From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen
Baking and boiling and roasting and jellying went on in quantity, for Mrs. Starling was a great cook, and could do things in style when she chose.
From Diana by Warner, Susan
Long cooking of pectin changes it into substances which do not have the property of jellying, hence, make jelly in as short a time as possible.
From School and Home Cooking by Greer, Carlotta Cherryholmes
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.
