Word Study
sticky
CIDE DICTIONARY
sticky, a.
Having the quality of sticking to a surface; adhesive; gluey; viscous; viscid; glutinous; tenacious. [1913 Webster]
"Herbs which last longest are those of strong smell, and with a sticky stalk." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
sticky, adj. (stickier, stickiest)
1 tending or intended to stick or adhere.
2 glutinous, viscous.
3 (of the weather) humid.
4 colloq. awkward or uncooperative; intransigent (was very sticky about giving me leave).
5 colloq. difficult, awkward (a sticky problem).
6 colloq. very unpleasant or painful (came to a sticky end).
1 tending or intended to stick or adhere.
2 glutinous, viscous.
3 (of the weather) humid.
4 colloq. awkward or uncooperative; intransigent (was very sticky about giving me leave).
5 colloq. difficult, awkward (a sticky problem).
6 colloq. very unpleasant or painful (came to a sticky end).
Idiom
sticky wicket
1 Cricket a pitch that has been drying after rain and is difficult for the batsman.
2 colloq. difficult or awkward circumstances.
1 Cricket a pitch that has been drying after rain and is difficult for the batsman.
2 colloq. difficult or awkward circumstances.
Derivative
stickily adv. stickiness n.
THESAURUS
sticky
adherent, adhesive, amylaceous, awkward, bathed in sweat, bathetic, beaded with sweat, beery, boggy, bulldogged, bulldoggish, bulldoggy, bullheaded, clabbered, clammy, clingy, close, clotted, cloying, coagulated, curdled, damp, dampish, dank, delicate, dewy, diaphoretic, difficult, discomforting, doughy, drenched with sweat, embarrassing, fenny, formidable, gaumy, gelatinous, glairy, gluelike, gluey, glutenous, glutinose, glutinous, gooey, grumous, gumbo, gumbolike, gumlike, gummous, gummy, gushing, hairy, heavy, humid, in a sweat, inspissated, jelled, jellied, jellylike, knotty, laborious, marshy, maudlin, mawkish, moist, mucilaginous, mucky, muggy, mushy, namby-pamby, nostalgic, nostomanic, obstinate, operose, oppressive, oversentimental, oversentimentalized, pasty, persistent, perspiring, perspiry, rainy, romantic, ropy, roric, roriferous, rough, rugged, sappy, self-adhesive, sensitive, sentimental, sentimentalized, slabby, slimy, slithery, sloppy, slushy, soft, soggy, soppy, starchy, stickable, stifling, stodgy, strenuous, stringy, stubborn, stuffy, sudatory, sudoric, sudorific, suffocating, sultry, swampy, sweating, sweaty, sweltering, syrupy, tacky, tear-jerking, teary, tenacious, thick, thickened, ticklish, tough, tremelloid, tremellose, tricky, uncomfortable, undried, viscid, viscose, viscous, wet, wet with sweat, wettish, wiltedROGET THESAURUS
sticky
Coherence
N coherence, adherence, adhesion, adhesiveness, concretion accretion, conglutination, agglutination, agglomeration, aggregation, consolidation, set, cementation, sticking, soldering, connection, dependence, tenacity, toughness, stickiness, inseparability, inseparableness, bur, remora, conglomerate, concrete, cohesive, adhesive, adhering, cohering, tenacious, tough, sticky, united, unseparated, unsessile, inseparable, inextricable, infrangible, compact.Semiliquidity
N semiliquidity, stickiness, viscidity, viscosity, gummosity, glutinosity, mucosity, spissitude, crassitude, lentor, adhesiveness, inspissation, incrassation, thickening, jelly, mucilage, gelatin, gluten, carlock, fish glue, ichthyocol, ichthycolla, isinglass, mucus, phlegm, goo, pituite, lava, glair, starch, gluten, albumen, milk, cream, protein, treacle, gum, size, glue (tenacity), wax, beeswax, emulsion, soup, squash, mud, slush, slime, ooze, moisture, marsh, semifluid, semiliquid, tremellose, half melted, half frozen, milky, muddy, lacteal, lactean, lacteous, lactescent, lactiferous, emulsive, curdled, thick, succulent, uliginous, gelatinous, albuminous, mucilaginous, glutinous, glutenous, gelatin, mastic, amylaceous, ropy, clammy, clotted, viscid, viscous, sticky, tacky, gooey, slab, slabby, lentous, pituitous, mucid, muculent, mucous, gummy.For further exploring for "sticky" in Webster Dictionary Online