dew
noun
moisture condensed from the atmosphere, especially at night, and deposited in the form of small drops upon any cool surface.
dew
1 American
[doo, dyoo]
/ du, dju /
noun
-
moisture condensed from the atmosphere, especially at night, and deposited in the form of small drops upon any cool surface.
-
something like or compared to such drops of moisture, as in purity, delicacy, or refreshing quality.
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moisture in small drops on a surface, as tears or perspiration.
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Informal.
verb (used with object)
-
dews,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dewed,
past participle, past
-
dewing
present participle
DEW
2
American
[doo, dyoo]
/ du, dju /
dew
British
/ djuː /
noun
-
-
drops of water condensed on a cool surface, esp at night, from vapour in the air
-
( in combination )
dewdrop
-
-
something like or suggestive of this, esp in freshness
the dew of youth
-
small drops of moisture, such as tears
verb
dew
Scientific
/ do̅o̅ /
-
Water droplets condensed from the air, usually at night, onto cool surfaces near the ground. Dew forms when the temperature of the surfaces falls below the dew point of the surrounding air, usually due to radiational cooling.
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See also frost
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dewsimple
-
dewssimple
-
have dewedperfect
-
has dewedperfect
-
am dewingprogressive
-
are dewingprogressive
-
is dewingprogressive
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have been dewingperfect progressive
-
has been dewingperfect progressive
Past
-
dewedsimple
-
had dewedperfect
-
was dewingprogressive
-
were dewingprogressive
-
had been dewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dew
before 900; Middle English; Old English dēaw; cognate with German Tau, Old Norse dǫgg
Explanation
Dew is moisture caused by condensation of water vapor in the air. Dew is what gets your feet wet when you walk across the grass on a summer morning. Think about a summer night — the sun goes down and the air begins to cool, along with everything that is outside, like grass. Then the sun comes up. The air heats up again, more quickly that the objects. This causes condensation — dew — on grass, plants, car windshields, and so on. Dew quickly evaporates in the sun. That's why you really only see and feel it early in the morning during summer.
Vocabulary lists containing dew
Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 1
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 5
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Spelling Practice, Unit 8
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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:
He also came to treasure his time mowing the fairways each morning before the golfers arrived, the dew glistening on the grass while the nibbling, untroubled deer looked on from the rough.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
"So we'll be trying to lose the odd toss, but no, you've got to try and factor in the dew, the opposition and what you think the pitch might do."
From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026
"The ball seems to fly here especially under the lights and the dew comes in so we always knew we had a chance," Smeed told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2025
A higher dew point means the air is moister and thus will feel muggier.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2025
We rode on until at last, dew damp and bone weary, we came upon a small inn, where we took a room for what remained of the night.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
Estimates of the potential market for DEW vary widely, as they often do in emerging defense categories, but most point in the same direction: rapid growth from a still-small base.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
"The cost of firing one laser or microwave is really the cost of electricity," an expert in DEW systems design told AFP on condition of anonymity.
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
Umi Patel, the Vice President of consumer insights and analytics at PepsiCo Beverages North America, said the new visual identity "tested positively and drove positive purchase intent across DEW loyalists, Gen Z and millennial consumers."
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2024
The DEW, or Distant Early Warning, line cost about $7.5 billion to build in today’s money.
From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2023
Professor DEW, now President of the University of William and Mary, Virginia, in his Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature, 1831-2, says, p 49.
From The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 3 of 4 by American Anti-Slavery Society
While the groups that attacked Javits professed to reflect the dews of U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
The stillness of noon, the depths of twilight, and the dews and pearls of the morning, are all to be found on the | canvases of this most benevolent and kindhearted man.
From Time Magazine Archive
After long basking on the French Riviera, Somerset Maugham returned to London for a ten-week chill in Britain's foggy-foggy autumnal dews.
From Time Magazine Archive
He stooped to remove his shoes, damp with the heavy dews of pasture and field.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews, In habit for the chase arrayed, The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer—a shade.
From Poetry of the Supernatural by Various
In the Philippines a native combo dewed the eyes of the crew of an LST with a proud performance of Stardust.
From Time Magazine Archive
The sky is pale blue there, dewed with yellow.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
In the corner of my eye, I could only see a hint of him—eyes as incandescently blue as the heart of fire, a briar of dark hair dewed with lagoon water.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
I crammed my ribbon tie in my vest pocket and unbuttoned my collar, wiping at the clammy sweat dewed on my neck.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Their corners were vague, their facades streaked, dewed, smeared.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Sadly not, for the dewing is done by sprinklers, and the baby is alone.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 5, 2019
He merely found himself abruptly in full possession of his senses, nerves tingling, moisture dewing his forehead, his whole being concentrated in the one act of—listening!
From Shoe-Bar Stratton by George W. Gage
In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 630 Fairy strains of music fall, Every sense in slumber dewing.
From Lady of the Lake by William Vaughn Moody
In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, Fairy strains of music fall, Every sense in slumber dewing.
From McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader by William Holmes McGuffey
"I say, Capting," said a tall Yankee in a fur hat, to Peter, "what may yew calculate dewing on Long Island?"
From Red, White, Blue Socks, Part First Being the First Book by Sarah L. Barrow
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.
