viscous

[ vis-kuhs ]

adjective

1. of a glutinous nature or consistency; sticky; thick; adhesive.
2. having the property of viscosity.

viscous

/ ˈvɪskəs /

adjective

1. (of liquids) thick and sticky; viscid
2. having or involving viscosity

viscous

/ vĭs′kəs /

1. Having relatively high resistance to flow (high viscosity ).

Derived Forms

• ˈviscousness, noun
• ˈviscously, adverb

Other Words From

• viscous·ly adverb
• viscous·ness noun
• hyper·viscous adjective
• pseudo·viscous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of viscous¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of viscous¹

C14: from Late Latin viscōsus; see viscose

Example Sentences

He proposed that the continents might be floating like rafts atop a layer of viscous, partially molten rocks deep inside Earth.

From 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.

From 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.

From 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.

From Science News

What’s more, the vortex can untwist itself, twisting the viscous medium around it as it does so.

From Quanta Magazine

What The Great Beauty and Fellini share is the Roman light—3,000 years of viscous sun.

From The Daily Beast

These comments will likely be much more viscous/personal/sexual in nature than those bombing your male colleagues.

From The Daily Beast

Plus there was a secondary sheen on the water that was more viscous.

From The Daily Beast

Black gays, in turn, are accusing their white gay peers of viscous racism.

From The Daily Beast

Besides these threads, small knots are seen rising in different places; they are viscous, and easily dissolved by heat.

From Project Gutenberg

Probably it is a gas so viscous that it would resist motion as pitch or putty does.

From Project Gutenberg

It is much less fusible than ordinary soda-glass, and passes through a longer intermediate or viscous stage when heated.

From Project Gutenberg

In amplexus the members of a pair sometimes become glued together by their viscous dermal secretions.

From Project Gutenberg

A viscous precipitate forms which frequently loses its viscosity when heat is applied.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gooey
• slimy
• syrupy