humid
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does humid mean? Humid is used to describe air that is full of water vapor. Humid is most commonly applied to weather or the general climate of a place, especially when the temperature is hot. The noun form of humid is humidity. Example: Summertime in Florida is almost unbearably humid.
Synonym Usage
See damp.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of humid
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin (h)ūmidus, equivalent to (h)ūm(ēre) “to be moist” + -idus -id 4
Explanation
When there is a lot of moisture in the air, it is humid out. The air in a rain forest is humid, the air in a desert is dry. People like to say that it's not the heat that bothers them, it's the humidity. They say this because when it is humid, or when there is a lot of water in the air, the heat feels hotter. It also makes wavy hair frizzy and straight hair limp. Air that is cold and moist is called damp, so when people talk about humid air, think tropical, as that's usually how the word is meant.
Vocabulary lists containing humid
The Sweltering Words of Summer
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Seedfolks
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Mexico - Introductory
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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.
The nests contained no fossilized bees, which the researchers say is not surprising because the cave's warm, humid conditions are poor for preserving delicate insect bodies.
From Science Daily • Jul. 5, 2026
Combined with very humid air, the "feels like" temperature could reach 105F in Boston, 112F in Philadelphia, and 113F in Washington.
From Barron's • Jul. 3, 2026
The Midwest and Eastern U.S. are expecting an excessively humid week, with daytime temperatures soaring to the 90s and 100s and nighttime temperatures that only drop into the 70s, according to the National Weather Service.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 30, 2026
She’s endured humid, 90-degree-plus summers most of her life.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
But the unrefracted brilliance of the sun, the humid heat, oppressed him.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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.
