Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Excessively sentimental or emotional in a way that seems insincere or exaggerated: Describes language, art, or behavior that is overly sweet, emotional, or romantic in a cloying or tasteless manner.
   • Consisting of, resembling, or covered with melting snow or watery mud: Describes a substance, typically snow or ground, that is partially melted, wet, and semi-liquid.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Sentimental):
  • I find those greeting card poems too slushy.
  • The movie's ending was criticized for being overly slushy.
• Adjective (Melting Snow/Mud):
  • The roads are dangerous because they are slushy.
  • After the thaw, the yard became a slushy mess.

Advanced Usage

• Used figuratively to describe overly emotional content:
  • His speech avoided slushy sentimentality and focused on practical solutions.
• Used to describe a consistency or condition:
  • The ice cream had melted into a slushy consistency.

Variants and Related Words

• Slush (noun): Partially melted snow or ice; also can mean sentimental writing.
  • The car got stuck in the slush.
• Slushiness (noun): The quality or state of being slushy.
  • The slushiness of the path made walking difficult.

Synonyms

• For sentimental meaning: Mawkish, maudlin, bathetic, mushy, schmaltzy, sentimental.
• For melting snow meaning: Semi-liquid, watery, mushy, sodden.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• No common idioms directly use "slushy," but the noun "slush" is used:
  • Slush fund: A reserve of money used for illicit or corrupt purposes, originally referring to money from the sale of watery, slush-like grease on ships.

    • The investigation uncovered a political slush fund.

Adjective

1. effusively or insincerely emotional
   • a bathetic novel
   • maudlin expressions of sympathy
   • mushy effusiveness
   • a schmaltzy song
   • sentimental soap operas
   • slushy poetry
2. being or resembling melting snow
   • slushy snow
   • deep slushy mud