drafty
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of drafty
Explanation
If you can feel a chilly breeze in your bedroom even though the windows are closed, the room is drafty. Drafty spaces tend to make you shiver and grab an extra sweater. The adjective drafty comes from draft, which meant "drawing or pulling" before it also came to mean "flow of a current of air." You'll most often find drafty describing rooms, buildings, and other enclosed spaces, like drafty tents, drafty schools, and drafty offices. In Britain, the spelling of this word reflects the way people used to pronounce it: draughty.
Vocabulary lists containing drafty
New Kid
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The Skin I'm In
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The Magician's Nephew
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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.
Despite ostensibly being about a world-famous pop star mounting a major comeback, David Lowery’s latest film, “Mother Mary,” rarely leaves the confines of the drafty farmhouse it’s set in.
From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026
“A gap year,” it was called, as if the Celtics were going to bolt off to a drafty Paris flat and pretend to read Sartre.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 2, 2026
So Marchiano, who also lacks the budget to replace drafty old windows, avoids the colder rooms.
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
If you’re not sure about moving to this big, old, drafty pile, say no.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 21, 2026
Each week the autumn grew colder and wetter, and the inn, although dirty and drafty, was much cozier than any barn or dung heap to be found outside, so she remained, empty of heart.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
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.
