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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

adhesive.

Sticky; tenacious, as glutinous substances.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ədˈhiː.sɪv/Received-Pronunciation/ədˈhi.sɪv/Canada, General-American/ædˈhi.sɪv/Canada, General-American/ədˈhiː.sɪv/Australia

  1. Sticky; tenacious, as glutinous substances.

    adhesive material
    adhesive tape

  2. Apt or tending to adhere; clinging.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Latin haereō Latin adhaereō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Medieval Latin adhaesivusbor. French adhésifder. English adhesive From French adhésif, from Medieval Latin adhaesivus, from adhaereō (supine adhaesum); see adhere.

noun/ədˈhiː.sɪv/Received-Pronunciation/ədˈhi.sɪv/Canada, General-American/ædˈhi.sɪv/Canada, General-American/ədˈhiː.sɪv/Australia

  1. a substance, such as glue, that provides or promotes adhesion

    countable · uncountable
    The label wouldn’t stick without strong adhesive.
    They used an adhesive to repair the broken vase.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Latin haereō Latin adhaereō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Medieval Latin adhaesivusbor. French adhésifder. English adhesive From French adhésif, from Medieval Latin adhaesivus, from adhaereō (supine adhaesum); see adhere.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.