Word of the Day!

flocculent [flok-yuh-luhnt]

adjective:
1 resembling wool especially in loose fluffy organization
2 containing, consisting of, or occurring in the form of loosely aggregated particles or soft flakes
3 consisting of or containing loose woolly masses.

Examples:

The snow begins as motes, which aggregate into dense, flocculent flakes that gradually sink and drift past the mouths (and mouth-like apparatuses) of scavengers farther down. (Sabrina Imbler, In the Ocean, It’s Snowing Microplastics, The New York Times, April 2022)

This white flocculent substance is silicic acid combined with the elements of water, and is therefore called by chemists hydrate of silica. (L Arnoux, British Manufacturing Industries Pottery, Glass and Silicates, Furniture and Woodwork)

The November gloom descends, although some early mornings and late afternoons have exquisitely delicate skies with masses of flocculent clouds. (Louise Bogan, Selected Letters of Louise Bogan)

Do not pay too much attention to flocculent windbags like economic professors. Do not look at what they have said but at what they have done. (Sir A M Samuel, Hansard Archives, May 1936)

This new image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3521 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is not out of focus. Instead, the galaxy itself has a soft, woolly appearance as it a member of a class of galaxies known as flocculent spirals. (Evan Gough, Hubble shears a 'woolly' galaxy, ESA/Hubble, September 2015)

NGC 4237 is a spiral galaxy, though it's hard to tell at first glance. It's actually a specific type of spiral galaxy called a 'flocculent' spiral galaxy. Aren't you glad you looked that word up? Flocculent basically means 'fluffy'. (Evan Gough, This Gorgeous Galaxy Is The Very Definition of 'Flocculent', sciencealert, April 2020)

(the galaxy in question, click to enlarge :)