English Dictionary — Definitions & Meanings

glooming

noun

The dim light of dawn or dusk.

gloomy

adj

Dark and dim, especially in a way that feels depressing.

gloop

noun

A thick, sticky, gooey substance.

gloopiness

noun

The quality of being gloopy, thick and sticky.

glop

noun

(informal) A thick, gooey substance.

gloria

noun

A hymn of praise, especially one beginning "Glory to God," sung during a church service.

Gloriana

name

A poetic nickname for Queen Elizabeth I of England.

glorification

noun

The act of praising something highly, or the state of being praised.

glorified

adj

Made to seem more impressive or important than it really is, often said sarcastically.

glorify

verb

To praise someone or something highly, or treat it as deserving great honour.

glorious

adj

Deserving great praise or admiration; magnificent.

gloriously

adv

In a splendid or magnificent way.

glory

noun

Great honour, fame, or admiration earned through achievement.

gloss

noun

A shiny, polished surface.

glossa

noun

(biology) The tongue, especially of an insect.

glossarium

noun

(historical) Another word for a gloss or glossary, especially in medieval writing.

glossary

noun

An alphabetical list of specialist or unfamiliar terms with short explanations, usually placed at the back of a book or on a website.

glossator

noun

A person who writes glosses, or notes explaining a text.

glossiness

noun

The quality of being glossy and shiny.

glossless

adj

Not shiny; without a glossy surface.

glossolalia

noun

Speaking a language one does not know, or speaking elaborate but apparently meaningless speech, while in a trance-like state (or, supposedly, under the influence of a deity or spirits); speaking in tongues.

glossology

noun

The study of language, another word for linguistics.

glossy

adj

Having a smooth, shiny surface.

Gloucester

name

A cathedral city in Gloucestershire, England, on the River Severn; also the name of towns in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and a British royal dukedom.

glove

noun

A piece of clothing that covers the hand, usually with separate coverings for each finger.

glovemaker

noun

Someone who makes gloves.

glover

noun

A person who makes or sells gloves.

glow

verb

To give off a steady light, often without a visible flame.

glower

verb

To look at someone with an angry expression.

glowing

adj

Giving off light or warmth.

gloze

noun

A short note added in the margin of a text to explain it.

glub

noun

The gurgling sound of bubbles moving through water.

glucose

noun

A simple sugar that serves as a major source of energy for living cells.

glue

noun

A sticky substance used to join things together.

glug

noun

The gurgling sound liquid makes when poured quickly from a container.

gluing

noun

The act of joining something with glue.

glum

adj

Sad, sullen, or in low spirits.

glumness

noun

A feeling of being glum or low in spirits.

glut

noun

A much larger amount of something than is needed.

glutamic

adj

Relating to or coming from glutamic acid.

gluten

noun

A protein found in wheat and other cereal grains, responsible for the stretchy texture of dough.

glutes

noun

The large muscles of the buttocks, which straighten the hip and power movements such as standing up, climbing and sprinting.

glutinous

adj

Sticky like glue.

glutton

noun

Someone who eats far more than necessary or normal.

gluttonous

adj

Eating too much food, or inclined to overeat.

gluttony

noun

The habit or vice of eating and drinking to excess.

glycogen

noun

Glycogen is a carbohydrate that animals store in the liver and muscles and break down into glucose for energy.

Glynn

name

A surname, and the name of several small places in Ireland, the United States, and the Caribbean.

glyph

noun

A single visual character or symbol, especially one specific drawn shape of a letter, number or sign in a typeface.

glyptodon

noun

A large extinct armadillo-like animal belonging to the genus Glyptodon.

GM

verb

To run a tabletop role-playing game as the person who referees the rules and narrates the world for the other players.

GMO

adj

Describing a plant, animal, or other organism whose DNA has been deliberately altered using genetic engineering.

gnarl

noun

A hard lump or twisted patch in the grain of a tree.

gnarled

adj

Twisted and lumpy in shape.

gnarly

adj

Twisted, knotted, or rough in texture, especially of wood.

gnash

verb

To grind your teeth together because you are angry or in pain.

gnat

noun

A small, flying insect, often found in swarms near water.

gnaw

verb

To bite or chew persistently on something tough.

gnawed

adj

Having an irregular, worn edge, as if bitten away.

gnawing

adj

Severe, nagging, or hard to ignore — used of pain, doubt, or worry.

gneiss

noun

Gneiss is a common metamorphic rock marked with bands or streaks of different minerals but lacking the flaky, splitting texture of schist.

gnocchi

noun

Small, soft dumplings made from potato or semolina, typically served with a sauce.

gnome

noun

A small, legendary earth-dwelling being, often shown as an old bearded man, said to guard underground treasure or mines.

gnomon

noun

The pillar, rod or pointer that tells the time by casting a shadow, especially the pointer on a sundial.

gnosis

noun

An immanent form of knowledge or transcendent insight, such as sought by the Gnostics.

gnotobiotic

adj

Relating to gnotobiotics.

gnu

noun

A gnu is a large African antelope with curved horns, belonging to the genus Connochaetes.

go

verb

To move or travel from one place toward another.

go off

phrasal verb

To speak or act with sudden intense energy — either ranting angrily or performing brilliantly. Which one is meant depends entirely on tone.

Goa

noun

A style of fast, trance-like electronic dance music built on droning basslines and shifting, hypnotic beats, first popularized at beach parties in Goa, India, in the late 1980s.

goad

noun

A long pointed stick used to prod animals into moving.

goading

noun

The act of urging or provoking someone into doing something.

goal

noun

Something a person is aiming or working to achieve.

goalie

noun

Informal word for a goalkeeper.

goalkeeper

noun

The player positioned to stop the opposing team from scoring by guarding the goal.

goals

adj

Internet slang for something highly admirable, worth aspiring to.

goalscorer

noun

A player who scores a goal or goals.

goaltender

noun

A player whose job is to stop the other team from scoring by guarding the goal.

goam

verb

To see, to recognise, or to notice.

goanna

noun

Any of several large monitor lizards native to Australia.

goat

noun

A horned, bearded farm animal related to sheep, often kept for milk, meat, or wool.

goatback

noun

The back of a goat, used for carrying a rider or a load.

goated

adj

Being or considered the greatest of all time; the best.

goatee

noun

A small beard grown only on the chin.

goatskin

noun

The hide of a goat, especially after it has been treated and used to make clothes, tents, or similar items.

gob

noun

A lump of a soft or sticky substance.

gobble

verb

To eat quickly and greedily.

gobbledygook

noun

Language that makes no sense or is hard to understand.

gobbling

noun

The act of eating quickly and noisily.

gobby

adj

Full of lumps or clumps.

Gobi

noun

As a proper noun, a vast desert spanning Mongolia and northern China.

goblet

noun

A drinking cup with a stem and base, without a handle.

goblin

noun

In traditional folklore, a small, ugly magical creature that lives in dark places and is usually unkind or troublesome, similar to an evil elf or demon.

god

noun

A supernatural being worshipped as having power over nature or human affairs.

god-fearing

adjective

Deeply religious in a way that shows in how you live, marked by reverence for God and by moral, respectable conduct.

Goda

name

A surname of Hungarian, Slovak, or Japanese origin.

Godard

name

A French surname, notably borne by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.

Godavari

name

A major river in South India, flowing through Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.

godchild

noun

A child sponsored at baptism by a godparent. This bond can continue for life, sometimes with the child regarded almost as a niece or nephew.

goddam

noun

A historical nickname the French applied to English soldiers or English people generally, said to come from the English habit of swearing "God damn" — first recorded around the Hundred Years' War.

goddammit

intj

An exclamation of anger or frustration; a contracted, emphatic way of saying "God damn it."

goddamn

intj

An exclamation used to express anger, shock, frustration, or strong excitement.

goddamned

adj

Cursed or condemned, in the literal religious sense of having incurred God's damnation.

Goddard

name

A masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, also used as a place name in the United States.

goddaughter

noun

A girl or woman for whose religious upbringing a godparent has taken responsibility.

goddess

noun

A female deity.

godfather

noun

A man who sponsors a child's baptism and promises to help guide their religious upbringing.

godfearing

adj

Following a god's rules mainly because you fear that god's power.

godforsaken

adj

Extremely bleak, remote, or dismal.

Godfrey

name

A masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, also used as a place name in the United States and Canada.

godhead

name

Another term for the Trinity.

Godiva

name

An 11th-century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode unclothed through the streets of Coventry to protest oppressive taxation imposed by her husband.

godless

adj

Not believing in or acknowledging a god.

godlessness

noun

The state of not believing in or following any god.

godlike

adj

Resembling or having qualities of a god; superhuman.

godliness

noun

The quality of being devoutly religious and morally upright.

godlore

noun

Ideas and beliefs about gods and religion, or the study of them.

godly

adj

Devoutly religious; pious and virtuous.

godmother

noun

A woman who sponsors a child's baptism and takes responsibility for guiding their religious upbringing.

Godot

name

A surname, familiar from the title character of Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot."

godown

noun

A warehouse, especially in South or Southeast Asia.

godparent

noun

Someone who promises, usually at a baptism or naming ceremony, to help bring up a child, especially in matters of faith.

gods

noun

The highest, cheapest seating area in a theatre, usually right at the top and far from the stage.

godsdamn

intj

(informal) Used to show that you are angry, shocked, or annoyed.

godsend

noun

Something unexpected that turns out to be exactly what you needed.

godsent

adj

Given by God, or as though by God; unexpectedly helpful; heaven-sent.

Godsey

name

An English surname.

godship

noun

The state or position of being a god.

godsib

noun

(old-fashioned) A relative through a godparent connection, such as your child's godparent or your godparent's child.

godson

noun

A boy or man whose godparent formally promised to look after his moral or religious upbringing at his baptism.

Godspeed

intj

Said to wish someone well as they set off on a journey or a difficult undertaking.

Godwin

noun

An unwritten rule of online debate: the longer a discussion goes on, the more likely someone will bring up Hitler or the Nazis, usually to unfairly attack the other side.

Godzilla

noun

A giant, fire-breathing movie monster from Japanese films, and by extension anything huge and destructive of its kind.

Goebbels

name

A German surname, most notoriously borne by Joseph Goebbels, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party and Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945.

Goering

name

A German surname, notably borne by Hermann Göring, a leading Nazi official.

goes

verb

The third-person singular present form of "go".

Goethe

name

A German surname, most famously borne by writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

goety

noun

Magic connected with evil spirits, such as witchcraft or raising the dead.

Goetz

name

A German surname.

goff

noun

A foolish or clumsy person; a clown or simpleton (dialectal/archaic).

goffer

noun

A fizzy or other drink with no alcohol in it.

gog

noun

(old-fashioned) A strong eagerness to set off somewhere.

goggle

verb

To stare at something with wide, bulging eyes, usually in astonishment.

goggles

noun

Snug-fitting protective eyewear that seals against the face, worn for swimming, skiing, lab work, and similar activities.

goggling

noun

A long look full of surprise or wonder.

gogo

noun

A stretchy fabric band used to tie back or bunch up hair.

Gogol

name

A Russian and Ukrainian surname, most famously borne by writer Nikolai Gogol.

Goguryeo

name

An ancient kingdom in Korea, one of the Three Kingdoms, existing from 37 BCE to 668 CE and covering much of North Korea, northern South Korea, and parts of Manchuria.

GoH

noun

A person invited to a convention or event as an honoured guest, often to give a talk because of their achievements in the field.

goidelic

noun

The branch of Celtic languages that includes Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.