sandy
adjective
of the nature of or consisting of sand.
sandy
1 American
[san-dee]
/ ˈsæn di /
sandy
British
/ ˈsændɪ /
adjective
-
consisting of, containing, or covered with sand
-
(esp of hair) reddish-yellow
-
resembling sand in texture
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sandy
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sandig. See sand, -y 1
Explanation
Something that looks like sand, feels like sand, or is covered in sand is sandy. A sandy beach is lovely; a sandy bed is just uncomfortable. If your dog tracks sand indoors and spreads it all over the place, you've got a sandy house. If your sister's hair is the brownish color of sand, you can describe it as sandy too. And if you spill your ingredients when you're making a cake, you might realize that sugar and flour both look a little sandy when they're on the floor. Sandy comes from the Old English sandig, "of the nature of sand."
Vocabulary lists containing sandy
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:
Possibly singed and mostly sandy, they storm the Mediterranean and return to their grills wet, steaming, and triumphant.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
He associates sandy, earthy music with African and Latin genres, like the samba he recorded in São Paulo for “The Garden.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Yachts akin to floating palaces fill the marina, celebrity chefs jet in for residencies at local restaurants and Pampelonne Beach morphs into a sandy catwalk with seasonal beach clubs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Bayahibe, a popular resort town on the Caribbean coast, is known for its clear blue waters and sandy beaches.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Finally, the sailors pull open the hatch and send down reports: We have entered a bay; there are tall trees along a sandy shoreline.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Sandy Ginther uses a 3-D printer to make custom fixtures that keep clutter at bay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The quarterly results show “resilient and high-quality operations,” Chief Executive Sandy Xu said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Sandy and Nick Burgoyne were meant to be heading home to the USA on Wednesday morning but decided to delay their flight so they could catch the eclipse.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Sister Sandy Howe’s sign read, “Love Your Neighbor, no exceptions.”
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
I’d put in eight hours at work, part of Sandy June’s early-morning prep crew before we opened at eleven.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
In the drier, sandier areas of the western Kalahari Desert and Namibia, Khoisan speakers remained the dominant group until more recent times.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Mr McCann says this huge number was necessary because "the same crop can look very different if it was planted in, say, sandier soil compared to soil that gets lots of rain and sun".
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2023
Muscovado sugar is similar to brown sugar but with a much stronger flavor and a damper, sandier texture...
From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2022
Or the wines of the Marne Valley, where the sandier soils have their own softer expression.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 6, 2019
It grew looser and sandier, and its upper coat thinner, as she approached the shore.
From The Marquis of Lossie by George MacDonald
You reverse what you tried for going up and aim for the sandiest places in order to glissade down.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2014
The road was the sandiest and least traveled that he experienced.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 26, 2014
He smacked the ground face-first in the world’s sandiest belly flop.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
"That feller thet jest went out is your brother's new foreman, Ken Douglass, the sandiest galoot an' best cowman on this range," he concluded.
From The Song of the Wolf by Frank Mayer
Soil and location: Grows in the poorest and sandiest soils where few other trees will grow.
From Studies of Trees by Jacob Joshua Levison
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.
