mossy

American  

[maw-see, mos-ee] / ˈmɔ si, ˈmɒs i /

adjective

mossier, mossiest

1. overgrown with or abounding in moss.

   a mossy stone.

2. covered with a mosslike growth.

3. appearing as if covered with moss.

4. resembling moss.

   a mossy softness.

5. old or outdated; antiquated.

   mossy ideas.

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Other Word Forms

• mossiness
  noun
• unmossy
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of mossy

First recorded in 1540–50; moss + -y ¹

Explanation

Anything covered with or resembling moss is mossy. A mossy rock can be pretty. Mossy teeth are never pretty. Moss tends to grow in a green carpet, especially in wooded or shady areas, so when you're walking through a forest you'll probably come upon mossy areas. Informally, you can also use this adjective to mean "old fashioned" or "dated." Your grandparents' conservative ideas about dating, for example, might be a little mossy. The word stems from an Old English root, meos, that's a close relation to mos, or "bog."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mossy mossier mossiest

Their brains also contained more "mossy cells" within the hippocampus, a region essential for learning and memory.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2025

Further testing revealed that the rearrangement is tightly correlated with the functionality of the mossy fiber synapse.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024

Highly theatrical, it saw the 35-year-old perform inside a mossy grotto, singing on top of a giant mechanical beetle and ascending a tree trunk in fairy wings.

From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2024

The style is evocative and creepy, thanks to rich production and costume design, the cramped house seemingly lost in time, surrounded by a damp, mossy forest.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2024

That afternoon he swam and lay on his back on the mossy bank, his hands crossed under his head, his thoughts returning to the conversation he had had with the storekeeper.

From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White

The new cottages are finely designed, but they are too black-and-white and painty to group easily with the older, mossier buildings and the White Hart Inn, with its nobly ugly sign.

From Highways and Byways in Surrey by Thomson, Hugh

After that the most Jabez asked of Eddie was to write "Please remit" or "Past due" on the mossier bills.

From In a Little Town by Hughes, Rupert

Ah," he said, "I have done fifty, without food, over the roughest and mossiest mountains.

From The Moon Endureth: Tales and Fancies by Buchan, John