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 old or outdated; antiquated.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

The task was challenging - not only are the frogs tiny, they are extremely well camouflaged to blend into their mossy homes.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2025

These signals get transmitted through the granule cells' axons -- their arm-like extension, known as mossy fibers.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 20, 2024

The massive neck dips, casting a curving shadow on the mossy ground.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024

I remember something, too, of the green grave-mounds; and I have not forgotten, either, two figures of strangers straying amongst the low hillocks and reading the mementoes graven on the few mossy head-stones.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

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

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

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