rubbery
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of rubbery
Explanation
Rubbery things have a tough, flexible texture, like a rubbery playground ball or a rubbery piece of American cheese. You'll often find the adjective rubbery describing food that's unpleasant to chew, like rubbery pasta or overcooked, rubbery chicken. Things actually made out of rubber are rubbery too, like a rubbery water balloon or the pair of rubbery gloves your grandma uses for gardening. Rubbery comes from rubber, a noun that originally meant "an eraser made from a tropical plant," or in other words, "a thing that rubs."
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.
“The texture is an abomination: gluey, with rubbery, chewy pockets.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
People assume it's rubbery, but that's Pacific kelp - Japanese kombu.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
On the Alto K98M, that click-clackiness is muffled by a rubbery internal gasket surrounding the keys.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 23, 2025
Electronic music starts to thump, rubbery pulsars bouncing over a steady beat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025
My rubbery legs almost giving way under me, I reached the toilet just in time to empty the vile contents of my stomach into it.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
