adjective
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consisting of or resembling mist
-
obscured by or as if by mist
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indistinct; blurred
the misty past
Other Word Forms
- mistily adverb
- mistiness noun
Etymology
Origin of misty
before 900; Middle English; Old English mistig. See mist, -y 1
Explanation
When it's misty out, there's a heavy fog. The air is thick with moisture, and there's just barely a light rain. When the air is foggy or hazy, you've got a misty situation. It isn't easy to see through misty weather, which happens most often in the morning because of moisture in the air. Your eyes can get misty too, when you're about to cry because you're sad or just have allergies. In fact, people who are embarrassed about crying will often joke, "It's getting misty in here."
Vocabulary lists containing misty
Beowulf vocabulary
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -y
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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.
On a misty winter's day in the English midlands, engineers struggled to drag stranded narrowboats from a waterless, mud-filled canal that collapsed weeks earlier, in a delicate, multi-million-pound rescue operation.
From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026
Today, over half a century later, it’s gray and misty and I’m feeling reflective.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025
When Carlile played You Without Me at Glastonbury this summer, there were more than a few misty eyes, as people digested the story of a parent coming to terms with their child's independence.
From BBC • Oct. 23, 2025
Each dance featured a soloist in seeming personal meditation with the music, its rhythms and its spirit, and with the company’s other dancers, who appear ghostly figures in the misty distance.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 10, 2025
His jerkin glistened with the misty breath of the Forest.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
