ooze
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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(of moisture, liquid, etc.) to flow, percolate, or exude slowly, as through holes or small openings.
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to move or pass slowly or gradually, as if through a small opening or passage.
The crowd oozed toward the entrance.
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(of a substance) to exude moisture.
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(of something abstract, as information or courage) to appear or disappear slowly or imperceptibly (often followed by out oraway ).
His cockiness oozed away during my rebuttal speech.
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to display some characteristic or quality.
to ooze with piety.
verb (used with object)
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to make by oozing.
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to exude (moisture, air, etc.) slowly.
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to display or dispense freely and conspicuously.
He can ooze charm when it serves his interest.
noun
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Geology. a calcareous or siliceous mud composed chiefly of the shells of one-celled organisms, covering parts of the ocean bottom.
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soft mud, or slime.
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a marsh or bog.
verb
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(intr) to flow or leak out slowly, as through pores or very small holes
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to exude or emit (moisture, gas, etc)
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(tr) to overflow with
to ooze charm
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to disappear or escape gradually
noun
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a slow flowing or leaking
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an infusion of vegetable matter, such as sumach or oak bark, used in tanning
noun
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a soft thin mud found at the bottom of lakes and rivers
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a fine-grained calcareous or siliceous marine deposit consisting of the hard parts of planktonic organisms
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muddy ground, esp of bogs
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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oozesimple
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oozessimple
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have oozedperfect
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has oozedperfect
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am oozingprogressive
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are oozingprogressive
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is oozingprogressive
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have been oozingperfect progressive
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has been oozingperfect progressive
Past
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oozedsimple
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had oozedperfect
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was oozingprogressive
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were oozingprogressive
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had been oozingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ooze1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun wose, woze, Old English wōs “juice, moisture”; verb derivative of the noun
Origin of ooze2
First recorded before 900; Middle English wose, woze, Old English wāse “mud, slime”
Explanation
The beauty of the word ooze is not only that it's both a noun and a verb but also that the word sounds like what it means. The ooze on the bottom of the pond oozed between your toes. When something oozes, it seeps out slowly in an unappetizing way. Cheese sauce oozes out of the container. Sludge oozes out of a treatment plant. Cream oozes out of a tube. Whatever is oozing is referred to as ooze. After an oil spill, a cleanup crew has to clean up the ooze that collects on the shore. It can also be used to describe someone's behavior if it's especially awful. A person who is really bad, for example, can be said to ooze evil.
Vocabulary lists containing ooze
Scrabble: Four-Letter Words with 3 Vowels
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James and the Giant Peach
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Shiloh
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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.
There’s a scene in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze where Vanilla Ice comes out, and he’s like, “Go ninja, go ninja, go,” and the ninja turtles all dance.
From Slate • Jun. 9, 2021
Watching Isaac channel his inner Ivan Ooze, it’s difficult not to think of Zoe Saldana, who has been a staple of this century’s science-fiction franchises while rarely being allowed to show her face.
From Salon • May 30, 2016
Secret of the Ooze is probably one of the first films I saw in theaters, in fact.
From The Verge • Aug. 8, 2014
While you marvel at 121 years of content, your kids can pick up some Mars Mud and Galactic Ooze.
From Washington Post • Jul. 15, 2011
Ooze leather, vest pocket size, single copy $8.00; twelve or more, each $2.75.
From Rudimental Divine Science by Eddy, Mary Baker
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.
