Gelatinous describes something that has the wobbly, jiggly texture of gelatin or jelly. When something is gelatinous, it's soft, slippery, and often semi-transparent, like Jell-O wiggling on a plate or the inside of a raw egg.

Scientists use this word frequently when describing sea creatures. Jellyfish are gelatinous animals, with bodies made mostly of water held together by a gel-like substance. If you've ever touched seaweed washed up on shore and found it slimy and slippery, you've felt something gelatinous.

The word can describe food too. Bone broth becomes gelatinous when it cools because collagen from the bones turns into gelatin. Some candies, like gummy bears, have a gelatinous texture that makes them chewy and bouncy.

When writers want to create a gross or unsettling image, they often reach for gelatinous. A character might discover a gelatinous blob in a science fiction story, or step into a gelatinous puddle in a spooky scene. The word perfectly captures that disturbing combination of soft, wet, and weirdly solid that makes people say “ew!” while being unable to look away.