adjective
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resembling milk, esp in colour or cloudiness
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of or containing milk
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spiritless or spineless
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Judaism another word for milchik
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of milky
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at milk, -y 1
Explanation
Anything milky looks like milk — it's whitish and cloudy. Soapy bathwater, pale skin, and the sap inside some plants can all be described as milky. You can use milky to talk about a friend's clear, light complexion, and you can also use it to describe something that has milk in it: "I like my tea sweet and milky." Sometimes you'll find this word describing something that's clouded, like an elderly dog's milky eyes. Our galaxy, in fact, is known as the Milky Way because its shining band of stars can't be individually seen without a telescope, so they appear cloudy or milky.
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:
When these organisms multiply in enormous numbers during late spring and early summer, their reflective shells scatter sunlight and give the ocean a milky blue appearance that is visible even from space.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
Not cloying, not milky, not trying to be liked by everyone at the bake sale.
From Salon ● Mar. 5, 2026
A decade later, a couple of Italian landscapes similarly turn complex space into milky planes kept parallel to the surface of the canvas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026
So coffees, lattes and other milky drinks made on café premises would not come under this tax.
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
Sabrina burped, followed by a dribble of milky spit.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Anna Simonovsky, 32, said that her upper limit had gone from $7 for a latte -- a milkier, frothier drink than a cortado -- to as much as $10.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025
It makes for a slightly firmer, milkier kugel with a mild tang.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2022
This soup mix from Hokkaido is ideal for those who prefer something sweeter and milkier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
On the other hand, lattes are milkier and generally sweeter.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2022
Namely, that the putative crème de la crème impart their enriching essence to the milkier orders.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
But if you use the milkiest, silkiest ricotta you can get and break out an olive oil with personality and zip, you’ll end up with a memorable dinner that’s so easy it practically makes itself.
From New York Times ● May 27, 2022
The very milkiest word in his mind at the time was the word vulgarity.
From Active Service by Stephen Crane
Surely the softest and milkiest stone that ever was quarried, received that likeness of Miss Pupford!
From Tom Tiddler's Ground by Charles Dickens
Would not be good-looking but for the lower half of his face; that mouth really beautiful, tenderly curved and sensitive, and constantly showing an even row of the milkiest teeth in the world.
From The Disturbing Charm by Berta Ruck
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.
