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ooze

ooze

5 6.0
Slow movement of liquid through small holes in a surface
  • noun
  • /uz/
translation icon : filtración
  • The primordial ooze from which life originates.

Examples

  • The water felt thick with ooze, with something like clay.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • But there is wetness, puddles, and the ooze of moisture through brick.

    Blog text (14)
  • One of them is very close to the ooze at the bottom.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Jobber picked her steps carefully but quickly through the ooze of mud and duckweed.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • An orange, pulpy ooze bloomed like a flower, then dripped down like blood.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • I wade, ankle-deep in the ooze, mixing the gravel and the watered lime.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • At these depths, the ooze was alive with Serolis polita, a flat, thumbnail-sized isopod.

    Academic text (1992)
  • A long-forgotten oil lamp, rusted and shattered, has sunk halfway into the purple ooze.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • After the heavy rain, a dark ooze seeped from the ground, making the area look muddy and unwelcoming.

  • The construction workers were careful as they walked through the thick ooze that had formed at the site after the flood.

Synonyms

seepage
vsooze
7 5.7

Slow movement of liquid or gas through small holes in materials

is the simpler term for that same gradual escape
effusion
vsooze
  • Specialized
7 8.5

A flow of liquid or gas out through a small opening

involves slow passive movement rather than a pressured outflow
infiltration
vsooze
  • Specialized
4 6.8

Slow movement of water into and through soil or rock

often refers to movement out or through rather than specifically moving inward
oozing
vsooze
4.5

A slow steady flow of liquid from a small opening

is the base noun form used for the same slow movement
to seeping
vsooze
2.7

To flow slowly through small holes or spaces

focuses on the slow movement through porous material rather than general leaking

Antonyms

570 1.0

To become free of water or wetness

55 4.4

To change from a liquid or gas into a hard state as it cools

Idioms

Show strong, obvious confidence

Compounds

A very soft material made from the skin of a young cow with a suede inner surface

How Fast

gush
6 4.3
stream
150 1.0
flow
188 1.0
to trickle
70 3.4
ooze
5 6.0
seepage
7 5.7

Surface Forms

ooze singular
oozes plural

Etymology

Ooze probably comes from a simple sound that copies liquid moving 'slowly', so think of something gently seeping out to remember this meaning.