adjective
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moist with or as with dew
a dewy complexion
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of or resembling dew
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poetic suggesting, falling, or refreshing like dew
dewy sleep
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of dewy
before 1000; Middle English; Old English dēawig; see dew, -y 1
Explanation
Something that's dewy is slightly damp, or beaded with moisture. The dewy grass early in the morning might leave wet marks on your sneakers. Anything that has dew on it — the tiny water drops left overnight by condensation — is dewy. The ground, leaves, blades of grass, and even your car might be dewy on a cool spring morning. You can also describe something very smooth and glowing, especially a person's skin, as dewy. The Old English root word is dēawig.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I was sitting in Circle Clinic in the central Seoul district of Gangnam, surrounded by photos of impossibly dewy Korean faces with even better necks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Make-up tutorials demonstrate how to get her baby-pink cheeks and dewy skin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2024
The slippery leaf surface is made worse in damp or dewy conditions – but in heavy rain it clears away.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2024
In the sketch during the Weekend Update segment, Yang performed as a "dewy" hippo influencer and echoed lines from several of Roan's TikToks where she addressed her fans about respecting boundaries.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2024
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied swirls of golden light appearing here and there on the dewy slope, but when she looked closer, they melted into wisps of gray.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
But until recently, the main game in town was the Jonathan Club, which was founded in 1895 and barely registered among the young, dewier set.
From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2019
I know about his father’s stock-market losses and his own estrangement from dewier and more smoothly conformist classmates at Harvard’s business school.
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2017
The lunar glow of Gheorghiu's voice sounds wan, and her intonation often sags; never having developed as an interpreter, she can only compete with our memories of her dewier prime.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 13, 2013
Basically, Plotz believes that the male characters on Nashville are far fresher and dewier and prettier than the female characters.
From Slate ● Jan. 18, 2013
I bid them dance, I bid them sing, For the limpid glance Of my ladyling; For the gift to the Spring of a dewier spring, For God's good grace of this ladyling!
From Sister Songs; an offering to two sisters by Francis Thompson
And steady, patient organizing, beginning at the dewiest grassroots: thus could a single small organization, from a distance and working with minimal resources, working in stealth, take over an organizational Goliath.
From Salon ● May 14, 2016
Heck, even the dewiest, pluckiest ingénue would have a hard time staying fresh once she became an endlessly re-marketable brand name.
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2012
The newest, dewiest invention is a plump, pleasant-voiced 19-year-old named Jennie Smith.
From Time Magazine Archive
Every missile plant and laboratory has a welcome for the dewiest young technician.
From Time Magazine Archive
And all the way not one rough bur, But the dewiest, freshest grasses, That whisper thanks to every foot that passes!
From The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by George MacDonald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
