bedwetting

American  

[bed-wet-ing] / ˈbɛdˌwɛt ɪŋ /

Or bed-wetting

noun

1. urinating in bed, especially habitually and involuntarily; enuresis.

2. 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.

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adjective

1. 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.

Etymology

Origin of bedwetting

First recorded in 1885–90; bed + wet + -ing ¹ for the verb senses; bed + wet + -ing ² for the adjective sense

Example Sentences

Antidepressants can be prescribed to young people for a variety of reasons, including depression, anxiety, bedwetting and pain.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

“One of the key topics in the first part of the memoir is Silverman’s struggle with enuresis, or bedwetting, which extended into her teenage years,” the program wrote.

From New York Times • Jul. 10, 2023

O’Malley Dillon said she was making that point in part to avoid “the bedwetting that is to come when those numbers narrow.”

From Washington Post • Jun. 21, 2020

Silverman first hinted that the book — which covers her youth in New Hampshire including, yes, her problems with bedwetting — could be turned into a musical back in 2014.

From Salon • Apr. 30, 2019

They suffered from insomnia, nightmares and bedwetting, Crepeau said.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 17, 2016