ooze

/uːz/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern Ireland/ʉːz/

ooze noun: tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.

Noun (1)

ooze (countable and uncountable, plural oozes)

Tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
An oozing, gentle flowing, or seepage, as of water through sand or earth.
(obsolete) Secretion, humour.
(obsolete) Juice, sap.

Verb

ooze (third-person singular simple present oozes, present participle oozing, simple past and past participle oozed)

(figuratively, intransitive, sometimes) To be secreted or slowly leak.
- I promised him I would keep silence, but the story gradually oozed out, and the Cronsons left the country.1868, Charlotte Riddell, A Strange Christmas Game
- She picked up the limp sprout and squeezed her thumb up its tiny stalk. Microscopic grains oozed out. “Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard. Look here. When it comes fall this dries up and the wind blows it all over Maycomb County!” Miss Maudie’s face likened such an occurrence unto an...1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC
(figuratively, transitive) To give off a strong sense of (something); to exude.
- […] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where speculation lurks in corners, and of which Madame Vauquer inhales the warm, fetid air without being nauseated.1878, Henry James, “Honoré de Balzac”, in French Poets and Novelists, London: Macmillan, II, p. 122
- "Good servants are so hard to find," Chesna said, oozing arrogance.1989, Robert R. McCammon, The Wolf's Hour, Open Road Integrated Media, published 2011, →ISBN

Noun (2)

ooze (countable and uncountable, plural oozes)

Soft mud, slime, or shells especially in the bed of a river or estuary.
- my son i' th' ooze is bedded.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- It was May before the skunk cabbage began to push up through the ooze of the swamps, before the rhubarb reddened to the back corner of the garden and the spring peepers finally emerged and began abrading the edges of the night with their lovesick vibrato.1993, TC Boyle, The Road to Wellville, Penguin, published 1994, page 297
A pelagic marine sediment containing a significant amount of the microscopic remains of either calcareous or siliceous planktonic debris organisms.
- Seaweed were left on the blackened marble, while the salt ooze defaced the matchless works of art.1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

pteropod ooze
A piece of soft, wet, pliable ground.

ooze meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

ooze in Tamil

intransitive: to secrete or slowly leak: வழி vaḻi

ooze in Urdu

کپڑے کا رواں, چونا, رسنا

More languagesFewer languages

ooze in Bengali: ঝরা jhora, ক্ষর khor
ooze in Telugu: స్రవించు sraviñcu, స్రవియించు sraviyiñcu
ooze in Malayalam: വാലുക vāluka, ഊറുക ūṟuka
ooze in Kannada: ಇರಿ iri
ooze in Punjabi: ਵਗਣਾ vagṇā
ooze in Gujarati: દૂઝવું dūjhvũ
ooze in Odia: ଝରିବା jharibā, ଗଳିବା gaḷibā
ooze in Sanskrit: गलति galati
ooze in Assamese: বিৰিং biriṅ
ooze in Persian: زهیدن zehidan, تراویدن tarâvidan
ooze in Myanmar: စိမ့် cim.

Examples of ooze in a sentence

Pale slime oozed through all the surfaces; some of it dripped from the ceiling and burned Dennis as badly as the blazing sparks had done a moment before.1988, David Drake, The Sea Hag, Baen Publishing Enterprises, published 2003, →ISBN:
There are no two ways about it: a Berardi dress oozes sex appeal from its very seams.1999, Tamsin Blanchard, Antonio Berardi: Sex and Sensibility, Watson-Guptill Publications, →ISBN, page 16:
All are now private homes, but it oozes nostalgia (which I like).2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 48:

All 40 example sentences with ooze

Synonyms of ooze

pteropod ooze

Forms of ooze

Noun
plural	oozes
alternative form (obsolete)	ouse
alternative form (obsolete)	owze
Verb
third-person singular present	oozes
present participle	oozing
past participle	oozed
past	oozed

Plural of ooze: oozes

Origin of ooze

* (Noun) Middle English wose (“sap”), from Old English wōs (“sap, froth”), from Proto-Germanic *wōsą, from Proto-Indo-European *wóseh₂ (“sap”) (cf. Sanskrit वसा (vásā, “fat”)). Cognate to Middle Low German wose (“scum”), Old High German wasal (“rain”), Old Swedish os, oos, ooss, Swedish os. Compare Old Swedish os, oos, Swedish os, Danish os, Norwegian os (“fumes, vapors, reeking, fug”). * (Verb) Middle English wosen, from Old English wōsan; see above. Compare Swedish osa (“ooze”).

From Middle English wose, from Old English wāse (“mud, mire”), from Proto-West Germanic *waisā, from Proto-Germanic *waisǭ (compare Dutch waas (“haze, mist; bloom”), (obsolete) German Wasen (“turf, sod”), Old Norse veisa (“slime, stagnant pool”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to flow”) (compare Sanskrit विष्यति (viṣyati, “flow, let loose”)). Compare also Saterland Frisian öäzje (“to smear”). More at virus.

Words formed from ooze

Phrases with ooze

Words that rhyme with ooze

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ooze

What does ooze mean?: Ooze means tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
What is ooze in Hindi?: Ooze in Hindi is रिसना (risnā). See Ooze meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ooze in a sentence?: Pale slime oozed through all the surfaces; some of it dripped from the ceiling and burned Dennis as badly as the blazing sparks had done a moment before.
What part of speech is ooze?: Ooze can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce ooze?: Ooze is pronounced /uːz/.
What is the plural of ooze?: The plural of ooze is oozes.

Words near ooze in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ooze.ogg, en-au-ooze.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ooze.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ooze. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.