muggy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of muggy
1725–35; mug to drizzle (noun and v.) (< Scandinavian; compare Old Norse mugga mist, drizzle) + -y 1
Explanation
Think of hot, humid, steamy weather as being so unpleasant that you feel "mugged" by it when you step outside. That's one way to remember the meaning of muggy. "It's not the heat! It's the humidity!" That's what your grandma says when she wants to complain about muggy weather. Muggy means a combination of humidity and heat that makes you sweaty and uncomfortable and long for air-conditioning. You might be cursing the cold and the snow today, but mark my words, come August and the muggy dog days of summer, you'll be nostalgic for the cold.
Vocabulary lists containing muggy
The Sweltering Words of Summer
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English Words Derived from Old Norse
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Kindred
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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.
Muggy moisture across Southern California doesn’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon, with a chance for showers sticking around through at least the weekend.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2025
Lipnicki will date members of the public on E4's Celebs Go Dating, where his co-stars will be Muggy Mike from Love Island and Towie's Gemma Collins.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2017
Muggy, stuffy, hard to breathe - those are all the words that were used.
From Washington Times • Dec. 5, 2015
Sending a few off to the butcher — or “watching them go down the driveway” as Sue Muggy prefers to say — allows their business/retirement hobby to sustain itself.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 18, 2014
“Maybe I need a weather nickname, too. How about Muggy McHill? Or Monsoon McHill?”
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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.
