bedwetting

or bed-wet·ting

[ bed-wet-ing ]

noun

urinating in bed, especially habitually and involuntarily; enuresis.
Informal: Often Disparaging. exhibition of emotional overreaction, as anxiety or alarm, to events, especially major decisions or outcomes: No doubt the executive order will be received by environmentalists with the usual bedwetting.

adjective

Informal: Sometimes Disparaging. prone to or exhibiting excessive anxiety or alarm over events, especially major decisions or outcomes; fearful; fretful: This station has given bedwetting conspiracy theorists ample airtime.

Origin of bedwetting

First recorded in 1885–90; bed + wet + -ing¹ for the verb senses; bed + wet + -ing² for the adjective sense

Words Nearby bedwetting

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bedwetting in a sentence

Some friends saw JonBenet's bedwetting and other problems with toilet training as a protest against the pressure of the pageants.
John Ramsey's Lingering Suspicions | Lucinda Franks | October 13, 2008 | THE DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for bed-wetting

bed-wetting

noun

the act or habit of involuntarily urinating in bed: Technical name: enuresis

Derived forms of bed-wetting

bed-wetter, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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