moisten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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moistens,
present (3rd person singular)
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moistened,
past participle, past
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moistening
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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moistenernoun
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overmoistenverb
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remoistenverb
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supermoistenverb (used with object)
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unmoistenverb (used with object)
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premoistenedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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moistensimple
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moistenssimple
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have moistenedperfect
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has moistenedperfect
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am moisteningprogressive
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are moisteningprogressive
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is moisteningprogressive
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have been moisteningperfect progressive
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has been moisteningperfect progressive
Past
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moistenedsimple
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had moistenedperfect
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was moisteningprogressive
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were moisteningprogressive
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had been moisteningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of moisten
Explanation
To moisten is to make something slightly damp or just barely wet. It used to be necessary to moisten a postage stamp with your tongue before sticking it on an envelope, but today stamps stick without being licked. A misty rain will moisten your hair, and running uphill moistens your forehead with sweat. Your houseplant that prefers a small amount of water will be happiest if you barely moisten the soil. While rain overnight will leave your front lawn soaking wet, the morning dew will simply moisten each blade of grass. Moisten comes from moist, from the Old French moiste, "damp." The Latin root means something closer to "moldy or slimy."
Vocabulary lists containing moisten
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:
Then, they used energy dissipation models to compare the seals' ability to warm and moisten air during inhalation and to reduce heat and moisture loss during exhalation.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 14, 2023
Rub a cut lemon around the rim of your serving dish to moisten.
From Washington Times ● May 28, 2023
To serve: Toss the cooked, room-temperature vermicelli with just enough Nuoc Cham to moisten the noodles.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2023
For birds, depending on the weather, you’ll need a blanket to cover the carrier and trap heat or a spray bottle to moisten feathers.
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2022
Back in the Cavendish Lab in Cambridge he built an artificial cloud chamber–a simple device in which he could cool and moisten the air, creating a reasonable model of a cloud in laboratory conditions.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
You'll be in awe of the soft, warm pockets of spiced, tender apple, as well as how much the apple moistens the cake.
From Salon ● Oct. 27, 2022
The teeth and jaw mechanically chew the food, and saliva from the salivary glands moistens the food and initiates mechanical and chemical digestion.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
The teeth and jaw mechanically chew the food, and saliva from the salivary glands moistens the food and begins chemical digestion.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
“That moistens your mouth to get it ready to spit,” he said.
From Washington Post
This eccentricity that I name Is, that whenever the bird would sing It darts its black head under its wing, And moistens its beak in—darling thing!—
From The New Penelope and Other Stories and Poems by Frances Fuller Victor
The mark is made with the moistened ashes of palms that were burned after the previous year’s Palm Sunday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
In the relatively new carbon dioxide method, developed in the early 1970s, producers use high-pressure CO₂ to extract caffeine from moistened coffee beans.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2024
Press the soil block maker into the moistened potting mix and rock back and forth to fill.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2024
Mix, scraping the bowl as needed, just until the dough is evenly moistened, 1 to 2 minutes.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
I got a clean cloth and soaked it in water, then held it to his lips and moistened them, squeezing it gently so that some of the water might trickle into his mouth.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
The teacher bristled, with anger moistening her eyes: “Just think of where you would prefer to live.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
With the air so dry — and not moistening up overnight — it is a “really concerning period for humidities,” Kittell said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2025
A wet March has provided a welcome partial relief to farmers by moistening soil ahead of planting but underground water levels remain dangerously low, especially around the Mediterranean.
From BBC ● May 5, 2023
Chiles relleno filled with picadillo are traditionally served with a tomato soup, which soaks into the ground meat, moistening the dish.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 7, 2022
I rose to my feet, moistening my dry lips.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
