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claylike

claylike

1 3.4
Having a soft sticky texture like wet clay
  • adjective
  • /ˈkleɪlaɪk/
: arcilloso
  • Lifting an edge of the sheet, he pulled it away, exposing the entire body, altogether naked and showing in the candlelight a claylike yellow.

Examples

  • Very claylike, you know, everything I can basically sculpt like clay.

    Blog text (12)
  • Excavating here is hard work; the humidity assures that the decomposed matter in the fill beneath has the consistency of thick, claylike mud.

    Academic text (2002)
  • I recall the ambulance coming to our house, the men trying to put her on a stretcher, and her just aware enough to struggle with them—flailing her arms when they lifted her, her mumbled protests through lips that seemed claylike and unnatural, moving like a badly dubbed Japanese film.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • The artist used a claylike material to create a realistic sculpture of a human figure.

  • The soil in this region is claylike, making it difficult for plants to grow.

  • After the rain, the ground became soft and claylike, sticking to my shoes with every step.

Synonyms

clayey
vsclaylike
1 6.8

Soil that is thick and sticky because it contains a lot of clay

focuses on general resemblance in texture or appearance not only soils
argillaceous
vsclaylike
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A rock or soil that contains a lot of clay

is the everyday description of similar texture or appearance
clayish
vsclaylike
1 4.4

Has the feel of heavy, sticky soil that becomes soft when wet and is used to make pots

has identical meaning but uses a different word form

How Clayey

clayey
1 6.8
claylike
1 3.4

Surface Forms

claylike positive

Morphology

claylike = clay (transparent) = clay + like

The adjective is formed by the productive suffix '-like' meaning 'resembling', so the meaning is directly derivable from 'clay'.

Etymology

Claylike comes from clay, the soft earth used for making pots, and the ending -like, which means 'similar to'. So claylike means 'like clay', soft, sticky, and easy to shape.