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 old or outdated; antiquated.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

My blue hair washed out to a mossy green, and I just went with it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

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

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2025

Fed from glaciers on Mount Shasta, the water pours out of lava tubes and down mossy cliffs, forming a verdant and ethereal cascade into a calm, shaded swimming hole.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 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

She was rubbing at a crumbling, mossy stone, gazing down at it, a little frown on her face.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

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 Rupert Hughes

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 Hugh Thomson

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

From The Moon Endureth: Tales and Fancies by John Buchan