viscous

[ vis-kuhs ]

/ ˈvɪs kəs /

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See synonyms for: viscous / viscousness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

of a glutinous nature or consistency; sticky; thick; adhesive.

having the property of viscosity.

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Also viscose.

Origin of viscous

1350–1400; Middle English <Late Latin viscōsus, equivalent to Latin visc(um) mistletoe, birdlime (made with mistletoe berries) + -ōsus-ous

OTHER WORDS FROM viscous

vis·cous·ly, adverbvis·cous·ness, nounhy·per·vis·cous, adjectivepseu·do·vis·cous, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH viscous

vicious, viscose, viscous

Words nearby viscous

viscount, viscountcy, viscountess, Viscount Melville Sound, viscounty, viscous, viscous flow, Visct., viscus, vise, Visegrad

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use viscous in a sentence

He proposed that the continents might be floating like rafts atop a layer of viscous, partially molten rocks deep inside Earth.
How the Earth-shaking theory of plate tectonics was born|Carolyn Gramling|January 13, 2021|Science News
By 2015, the stream of papers had turned into a torrent, and since then there’s been a veritable flood of research on biomolecular condensates, these liquid-like cell compartments with both elastic and viscous properties.
A Newfound Source of Cellular Order in the Chemistry of Life|Viviane Callier|January 7, 2021|Quanta Magazine
The dirtiest oil, like the viscous stuff from Canada’s tar sands, has to be steamed out of the ground and heavily refined before being shipped off to the coast.
Global fuel standards are pushing the dirtiest oil out of the market|Michael J. Coren|October 12, 2020|Quartz
A more viscous disk would tear like how Kraus and colleagues propose, but a less viscous disk needs a planet to break apart, she says.
A weirdly warped planet-forming disk circles a distant trio of stars|Lisa Grossman|September 3, 2020|Science News

What’s more, the vortex can untwist itself, twisting the viscous medium around it as it does so.
An Unexpected Twist Lights Up the Secrets of Turbulence|David H. Freedman|September 3, 2020|Quanta Magazine
What The Great Beauty and Fellini share is the Roman light—3,000 years of viscous sun.
The New Fellini: Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘The Great Beauty’|Jimmy So|November 18, 2013|DAILY BEAST
These comments will likely be much more viscous/personal/sexual in nature than those bombing your male colleagues.
Should Facebook Ban Sexist Pages?|Jessica Bennett|November 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Plus there was a secondary sheen on the water that was more viscous.
Can Deadliest Catch Help the Oil Spill?|Nicole LaPorte|June 10, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Black gays, in turn, are accusing their white gay peers of viscous racism.
Gays and Blacks (and Gay Blacks) Go to War|The Daily Beast|November 6, 2008|DAILY BEAST
Besides these threads, small knots are seen rising in different places; they are viscous, and easily dissolved by heat.
The Book of Curiosities|I. Platts
Probably it is a gas so viscous that it would resist motion as pitch or putty does.
The Astronomy of the Bible|E. Walter Maunder
It is much less fusible than ordinary soda-glass, and passes through a longer intermediate or viscous stage when heated.
A Handbook of Laboratory Glass-Blowing|Bernard D. Bolas
In amplexus the members of a pair sometimes become glued together by their viscous dermal secretions.
Field Study of Kansas Ant-Eating Frog|Henry S. Fitch
A viscous precipitate forms which frequently loses its viscosity when heat is applied.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique|John William Henry Eyre

British Dictionary definitions for viscous

viscous

viscose

/ (ˈvɪskəs) /

adjective

(of liquids) thick and sticky; viscid

having or involving viscosity

Derived forms of viscous

viscously, adverbviscousness, noun

Word Origin for viscous

C14: from Late Latin viscōsus; see viscose

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for viscous

viscous

[ vĭs′kəs ]

Having relatively high resistance to flow (high viscosity).

viscous

Origin of viscous

OTHER WORDS FROM viscous

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH viscous

Words nearby viscous

Words related to viscous

How to use viscous in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for viscous

viscose

Derived forms of viscous

Word Origin for viscous

Scientific definitions for viscous