jell
jell — verb
- jellpresent simple I / you / we / they
- jellshe / she / it
- jelledpast simple
- jelling-ing form
- gels3rd person singular
- gelledpast participle
1. to change from a liquid into a soft, firm solid — the way a thin sauce becomes a
to change from a liquid into a soft, firm solid — the way a thin sauce becomes a wobbly dessert after cooling
After an hour in the fridge, Mei's fruit juice began to jell into a soft dessert.
collocation: begin to jell into [result]
The gravy began to jell around the sliced chicken as Hamid's plate cooled on the table.
intransitive: no object needed; visual cue — jelling at the edges first
Duncan let the hot stock jell for twenty minutes before spooning over the parsley layer.
When Ingrid used twice the water her recipe needed, the berry mixture stayed runny and never jelled.
Once the filling has jelled, slice it into squares and serve.
用法筆記
Common in cooking contexts. The variant spelling 'gel' is more frequent in British English for this sense.
常見錯誤
2. to develop into something clear, well-organised, and effective — said of ideas,
to develop into something clear, well-organised, and effective — said of ideas, plans, or groups of people working together
It took two meetings before the marketing team's ideas began to jell into a plan for the summer playground project.
collocation: ideas jell into [result]
The new band jelled quickly after their first small concert in the park.
adverb pattern: jelled quickly
Amara's thoughts on the project finally jelled during her morning walk.
After weeks of awkward silence, Jun and Tomas finally jelled as a team and finished the report ahead of schedule.
Kwame's argument for longer library hours only jelled when he showed the petition with eighty student signatures.
- coalesce
more formal; often used for separate elements merging into one whole
- crystallize
emphasises becoming sharp and well-defined, especially of ideas
- gel
variant spelling; more common in British English for the figurative sense
- come together
more general and conversational; works for both physical and abstract joining
- fall apart
to stop working well as a group or to lose coherence
文法句型
jell into + noun phrase
用法筆記
Typically used with abstract subjects such as ideas, plans, or teams. Often followed by 'into' to name the outcome. Distinguish from sense 1 (THICKEN AND SET), which describes a physical change.