moisture
Americannoun
-
moistures
plural
-
condensed or diffused liquid, especially water.
moisture in the air.
-
a small quantity of liquid, especially water; enough liquid to moisten.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of moisture
1325–75; Middle English; see moist, -ure; compare Middle French moistour
Explanation
Moisture is the feeling of wetness — what you want in your cupcake but not in your diapers. Moisture is the noun related to the adjective moist, which you might use to describe damp soil, clammy air, or melt-in-your-mouth desserts. Moisture has also been known to promote mold growth and frizz otherwise tame hair, so it doesn't have many fans — other than tropical plants and the very thirsty.
Vocabulary lists containing moisture
Holes
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Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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"Brothers in Hope"
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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.
See Examples For:
Arizona and New Mexico will probably get substantial rains, he said, and the storm could also bring enough moisture farther north to give the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs a small boost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
The team also regularly identifies missing or incorrectly installed weep vents - which are installed in exterior walls to let moisture escape.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
It brings together improved modeling with NASA-satellite-validated measurements of snowpack, surface and groundwater storage, soil moisture, and other conditions throughout the Colorado River Basin in a single interactive system.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Some elements of the water cycle change rapidly -- like precipitation, river flow and soil moisture, responding to weather within days or weeks.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
He suffered a good deal and was reduced to tearing at the stems of the long grasses for moisture.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
“The fuel moistures would have been too high, and the fire wouldn't have carried.”
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2025
Climate change has led to higher temperatures, increased dry and dead vegetation, low soil moistures and stronger storms.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
Though recent rains increased fuel moistures slightly, caution is still warranted because extreme heat and strong winds can be a recipe for rapid fire spread should ignition occur, Stewart said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2022
One silver lining was that vegetation in the area remains relatively moist due to rains earlier in the season, with the latest measure of fuel moistures in the West Gaviota area over 100%, Ferguson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2022
For moistures in these twain Are near akin.
From On the Nature of Things by William Ellery Leonard
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.
