sodden

[ sod-n ]

adjective

1. soaked with liquid or moisture; saturated.
2. heavy, lumpy, or soggy, as food that is poorly cooked.
3. having a soaked appearance.
4. bloated, as the face.
5. expressionless, dull, or stupid, especially from drunkenness.
6. lacking spirit or alertness; inert; torpid; listless.
7. Archaic. boiled.

verb (used with or without object)

1. to make or become sodden.
2. Obsolete. past participle of seethe.

sodden

/ ˈsɒdən /

adjective

1. completely saturated
2. 1. dulled, esp by excessive drinking
   2. ( in combination )

      a drink-sodden mind

3. heavy or doughy, as bread is when improperly cooked

verb

1. to make or become sodden

Derived Forms

• ˈsoddenly, adverb
• ˈsoddenness, noun

Other Words From

• sodden·ly adverb
• sodden·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sodden¹

1250–1300; Middle English soden, sothen, past participle of sethen to seethe

Word History and Origins

Origin of sodden¹

C13 soden, past participle of seethe

Example Sentences

It’s a perfect growing medium for many plants, as it holds moisture and oxygen without getting sodden.

From Popular-Science

Despite the weight of my own sodden rain gear, I felt somehow lighter, too.

From Outside Online

Shampooing used to mean a lot of foam and a lot of damp carpet, while steaming was seen as preferable as it didn’t leave fibers quite so sodden.

From Popular-Science

Lucky Danger’s beef and broccoli is equal parts soft meat and sodden vegetable.

From Washington Post

It is a kind of hell, but not the spiraling inferno the Stalker Virgil led Dante through, but a sodden, sloppy Tartarus.

From The Daily Beast

There is Walker McNally, a sodden drunk for whom the pouring and stirring of a drink becomes a kind of sexual foreplay.

From The Daily Beast

It wanted something over an hour to midnight when Monsieur de Garnache started out in his sodden clothes to run from Condillac.

From Project Gutenberg

If two of the sodden ruffians forrad would only come up, then something might be done; but one tired sailor was of little use.

From Project Gutenberg

I am alone among my friends,And of our sodden crowd No single drunkard understandsI sit apart and vowed.

From Project Gutenberg

It was an exciting moment as that great bulk came on, its tons of sodden wood backed by the impetuous forces of the torrent.

From Project Gutenberg

But what a contrast to this spasm of local statesmanship the earlier years of that drink-sodden century display!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• saturated
• soaked
• soggy