stickystick‧y /ˈstɪki/ ●●○ adjective (comparative stickier, superlative stickiest) 
There’s some sticky stuff in your hair. a sticky floorsticky tape/label etc British English (=tape etc that is made so it will stick to surfaces)2weather that is sticky makes you feel uncomfortably hot, wet, and dirty SYN humid: It was hot and sticky and there was nowhere to sit.3a sticky situation, question, or problem is difficult or dangerous: a sticky political issuesticky patch British English The business hit a sticky patch and lost £4.8 million.4a website that is sticky is interesting to the people looking at it and makes them want to look at it for a long period of time5have sticky fingers informal to be likely to steal something6come to/meet a sticky end British English informal to die in a violent way7be on a sticky wicket British English informal to be in a situation that will cause problems for you—stickiness noun [uncountable]
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a hot sticky day in August
- Add flour to the mixture to prevent it from becoming sticky.
- She wrote the address on a sticky label and stuck it to her computer.
- Something about the sticky humid weather made people feel a little angry.
- The issue of equal school funding remains a sticky political issue.
- There's something sticky on the floor.
- We left Rome on a hot sticky day in August.
- Christina went upstairs to her bedroom, peeled off her sticky, crumpled clothes, and jumped into a tepid shower.
- I opened two bottles that I retrieved from the sticky mess on the cabin floor.
- Mum's cakes always sank, and Dad liked eating the sticky part in the middle with a spoon.
- Only a trail of blue sticky stuff all on the gratings.
- She felt hot and sticky and changed her clothes and put on a housecoat.
- So newly divorced Jayojit flies from the States to sticky Calcutta with his son.
- Sweat had made my skin sticky, and had glued rivulets of sand to my spectacles.
- Then she saw the bear stuck to the sticky ox.
Longman Language Activatorto die in an accident, war, fight etc
· The firefighters died when the warehouse floor collapsed.die/be killed in an accident/explosion/the war etc · Two people were killed and four injured in a gas explosion this morning.die/be killed in action (=be killed in a war) · His brother was killed in action in Vietnam.
: starve/freeze/bleed etc to death to die because of having no food, being too cold, losing blood etc: · The baby starved to death.· He bled to death after being stabbed repeatedly.
to be killed in a terrible event - used especially in news reports and descriptions of past events: · Hundreds of people lost their lives when the ship overturned in a storm.· Supporters continue to visit the site where Colosio lost his life to an assassin's bullet.
British informal to die in a violent or unpleasant way - use this especially when you think the person who died deserved this: · At the end of the film the prisoners are rescued, and the pirates come to a sticky end.
to die in a terrible event - used especially in literature and news reports: · Everyone aboard the ship perished when it sank off the coast of Maine.· Five children perished before firefighters could put out the blaze.
if a military force suffers heavy losses , a very large number of its soldiers die while fighting: · US forces withdrew after suffering heavy losses.· The troops suffered heavy losses fighting their way through the Italian countryside.
something that will stick to something else a liquid or soft substance that you use to stick things together: · Wait for the glue to dry before you sit on it.
something that is sticky sticks to other things: · Add flour to the mixture to prevent it from becoming sticky.· She wrote the address on a sticky label and stuck it to her computer.
adhesive material or paper is covered with a sticky substance such as glue, that makes it stick to surfaces: · The first aid box has adhesive dressings and antiseptic cream in it.· He attached the paper to the wall with special adhesive tape.self-adhesive (=sticky on one side and able stick to something without glue or liquid): · self-adhesive envelopes
when the air feels wet humid air or weather is hot and wet in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable: · Summers in Tokyo are hot and humid.· Her clothes were sticking to her, but the humid air didn't seem to bother Ralph.· The entire island is covered by thick humid jungle.
: damp air or weather is slightly wet in an unpleasant way, and makes you feel cold: · It's cold and damp outside - make sure you wear a warm coat.· At first I hated the damp weather in Britain.
: muggy weather is very warm and wet, and there is no wind, so that you feel very uncomfortable: · When it's hot and muggy, no one feels like working.· It was a warm muggy afternoon, and it looked like it would rain.
very hot and wet, making you feel uncomfortable and dirty: · We left Rome on a hot sticky day in August.· Something about the sticky humid weather made people feel a little angry.
air that is dank , especially the air in an enclosed room or space, is unpleasantly wet and cold and smells bad: · The air in the room was heavy and dank, and I couldn't sleep.· I'm not surprised he's miserable, living in that dank old house.· The bag had been sitting in a dank tent for three days and smelled like an old laundry hamper.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY There’s some sticky stuff in your hair. It was hot and sticky and there was nowhere to sit.
There’s some sticky stuff in your hair. British English (=tape etc that is made so it will stick to surfaces)
It was hot and sticky and there was nowhere to sit. British English The business hit a sticky patch and lost £4.8 million.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB The business hit a sticky patch and lost £4.8 million.· When full-blown free trade eventually comes, the Windwards will be on a very sticky wicket.· When completely incorporated, dough will be very sticky.· Either that, or he was in for a very sticky evening indeed.
NOUN· The police considered this and took him down to the station - for tea and sticky buns.· Unessential is actually an unfair epithet when applied to sticky buns.· What it is, though, is the original Philadelphia sticky bun encounter.· The sticky buns, wrapped in two wax papers, went into his coat pocket.· The glazed side will now be up and the glaze will run all over the sticky buns and off.
· And a sticky end ... marmalade shop to close after a century of trade Read in studio Good evening.· I can't help but think that it's an unfortunate custom to name children after people who come to sticky ends.
· She ran a sticky finger down the monthly balance-sheet, then checked the figures against the handwritten bank statement.· There would be sticky fingers everywhere, the result of handling rock, candy floss, oranges.
· I'd scan the sticky label in the front to see the book's lineage of fellow-sufferers.
· Evode has gone through a sticky patch.· During a sticky patch in her relationship with Paul she bedded a 19-year-old holidaymaker in Ibiza.
· Only a trail of blue sticky stuff all on the gratings.
· Sticking plasters, perhaps made from paper or sticky tape, again in different shapes and sizes, offer choice and comparison.· Put an old cushion inside a strong plastic bag, sealing it tightly with sticky tape.· Not posters, fixed with sticky tape or drawing-pins.· Or could I use a shoebox and sticky tape?· Also, do not use large amounts of sticky tape to seal envelopes, as this can render them unusable.· The lines marked out with sticky tape are where the kerb is going to be under the traffic-scheme proposals.· Tearing the sticky tape from the front of his torch, he directed its increased light on to the grey metal door.· Place one half on top of the other to form one large triangle, and stick together with sticky tape.
· When full-blown free trade eventually comes, the Windwards will be on a very sticky wicket.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► be on a sticky wicket► have sticky fingersPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
- I can't help but think that it's an unfortunate custom to name children after people who come to sticky ends.
- Even when they knew he was going through a bad patch they would continue to deliver dangerous back-passes to him.
- Every team goes through a bad patch.
- Evode has gone through a sticky patch.
- Having hit a bad patch, financially, I decided I must try for some paid work with my knitting machine.
- Ruefully, she recalled her pleasure at the way the book, after a difficult patch, had begun to develop.
- Sometimes I am a real power pack of efficiency; then I hit a bad patch.
- Talk about hitting a bad patch.
- The Royal Family is certainly going through a rough patch.
WORD FAMILYadjectivestickystuckunstucknon-sticknounstickerstickinessverbstick
1made of or covered with a substance that sticks to surfaces: There’s some sticky stuff in your hair. a sticky floorsticky tape/label etc British English (=tape etc that is made so it will stick to surfaces)2weather that is sticky makes you feel uncomfortably hot, wet, and dirty SYN humid: It was hot and sticky and there was nowhere to sit.3a sticky situation, question, or problem is difficult or dangerous: a sticky political issuesticky patch British English The business hit a sticky patch and lost £4.8 million.4a website that is sticky is interesting to the people looking at it and makes them want to look at it for a long period of time5have sticky fingers informal to be likely to steal something6come to/meet a sticky end British English informal to die in a violent way7be on a sticky wicket British English informal to be in a situation that will cause problems for you—stickiness noun [uncountable]- robustness
- Roc
- Rochester, Mrs
- rock
- rockabilly
- rock and roll
- Rock Around the Clock
- rock bottom
- rock-bottom
- rock climber
- rock climbing
- Rockefeller, John D.
- Rockefeller, Nelson
- rocker
- rockery
- rocket
- rocket science
- rocket scientist
- rock face
- rockfall
- rock garden
- rock-hard
- Rockies
- rocking chair
- rocking horse