Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Easily squashed or compressed; having a soft, yielding texture: Describes something that can be easily pressed out of shape, often because it is soft, moist, or porous.
   • Soft and wet, like marshy ground: Describes terrain that is waterlogged, muddy, and gives way under pressure.
   • Resembling pulp or being overripe; lacking firmness: Describes something, especially fruit or plant matter, that has become soft and mushy.

Usage Examples

• Describing Texture:
  • The sofa cushions were old and squashy.
  • She stepped on the squashy peach that had fallen from the tree.
• Describing Ground:
  • After the heavy rain, the path through the field became squashy and difficult to walk on.
  • We avoided the squashy, boggy area near the lake.
• Describing Food or Organic Matter:
  • The tomatoes were so overripe they felt squashy to the touch.
  • The squashy bread was perfect for making bread pudding.

Advanced Usage

• Comparative and Superlative Forms: "squashier", "squashiest".
  • This pillow is squashier than the other one.
  • Of all the fruits, the overripe banana was the squashiest.
• Figurative Use (Informal): Can describe something emotionally soft or sentimental.
  • The movie's ending was a bit too squashy for my taste. (Implies it was overly sentimental or mushy.)

Variants and Related Words

• Squash (verb): To crush or press something into a flat, soft mass.
  • He accidentally squashed the sandwich in his bag.
• Squashiness (noun): The quality of being squashy.
  • The squashiness of the mattress made it uncomfortable for my back.

Synonyms

• Spongy: Elastic and soft, full of holes like a sponge.
• Mushy: Soft and pulpy.
• Boggy / Marshy / Quaggy: Soft and wet ground that sinks underfoot.
• Pulpy: Having a soft, wet consistency like pulp.
• Yielding: Easily giving way to pressure.

Antonyms

• Firm: Solid and unyielding to pressure.
• Hard: Solid and resistant to pressure or deformation.
• Solid: Having a definite shape and firmness.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• (As) squashy as a pillow: A simile emphasizing extreme softness.
  • The new dough was as squashy as a pillow.
• To go squashy: To become soft and mushy, often from overripeness or decay.
  • Leave the pears too long, and they'll go squashy.

Adjective

1. easily squashed; resembling a sponge in having soft porous texture and compressibility
   • spongy bread
2. (of soil) soft and watery
   • the ground was boggy under foot
   • a marshy coastline
   • miry roads
   • wet mucky lowland
   • muddy barnyard
   • quaggy terrain
   • the sloughy edge of the pond
   • swampy bayous
3. like a pulp or overripe; not having stiffness