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spongy

spongy

11 2.2
Soft and full of small holes that soak up liquid easily
  • adjective
  • /ˈspʌn.dʒi/
translation icon : esponjoso
  • Oh, that spongy feeling is hard to resist.
  • spongy mesophyll
  • spongy mesophyll cells

Oh, it is Very light icing, very spongy cake.

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Examples

  • It's a sweet, spongy dessert that you eat after dinner.

  • The wheelchair began moving over the spongy ground, slowly at first, then gaining momentum.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • I mean, it's a bit spongy feeling, but for what it is, it works pretty well.

  • I always thought the brain matter was a little too spongy.

  • The forest floor was soft and spongy, a carpet of pine straw and leaves.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The earth under his feet is mostly spongy with moss and pine needles.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • What's more, the fern can form tough, spongy mats on the ground.

    Academic text (2000)
  • The ground was soft, spongy: peat bog, covered with moss.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The grass beneath our feet was spongy with the morning's watering, and yesterday's and the days before.

    Academic text (1997)
  • The forest floor was soft and spongy, a carpet of pine straw and leaves.

Synonyms

squishy
vsspongy
  • Informal
32 3.0

Soft and easy to squeeze, often a little wet and spongy

focuses on holey softness and liquid uptake not mere compressibility
porous
vsspongy
23 4.6

Full of small holes that let water or air pass through

adds softness and strong liquid uptake beyond mere holes
absorbent
vsspongy
10 3.4

Able to soak up liquid easily

also includes soft holey texture not only liquid holding
squashy
vsspongy
1 3.6

Soft and easy to crush, often wet or spongy

is more about holey softness and strong liquid uptake than crushability
soft and squishy
vsspongy
1 2.8

Easy to press and feels like a sponge

focuses on holey liquid intake and wetness rather than pleasant give
squidgy
vsspongy
  • UK
1 7.4

Soft and a little wet so you can squeeze it easily

emphasizes holey liquid uptake and gentle feel not only wet squeeze
spongelike
vsspongy
4.9

Soft and full of small holes that soak up liquids

is the simpler adjective form with the same meaning
spongiform
vsspongy
  • Specialized
8.3

A thing that is soft and full of small holes like a sponge

is the everyday adjective emphasizing softness and liquid intake
foamlike
vsspongy
3.9

A material with many small holes that feels soft and spongy

adds clear liquid intake and gentle softness beyond holey structure

Antonyms

764 1.0

Firm and not easy to bend, break, or pierce

325 1.0

Firm and hard so it keeps its shape, not liquid

How Spongy

spongy
11 2.2
porous
23 4.6
soft
552 1.0

Surface Forms

spongy positive

Morphology

spongy = sponge (transparent) = sponge + y

Formed by adding the productive adjective-forming suffix '-y' to 'sponge', yielding 'having the qualities of a sponge' (soft and absorbent).

Etymology

Spongy comes from the common object sponge plus the ending -y, which means 'like' or 'full of'. A sponge is soft and full of small holes that 'soak up' water, so something spongy is soft and easily takes in liquid.