muggy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of muggy
1725–35; mug to drizzle (noun and v.) (< Scandinavian; compare Old Norse mugga mist, drizzle) + -y 1
Explanation
Think of hot, humid, steamy weather as being so unpleasant that you feel "mugged" by it when you step outside. That's one way to remember the meaning of muggy. "It's not the heat! It's the humidity!" That's what your grandma says when she wants to complain about muggy weather. Muggy means a combination of humidity and heat that makes you sweaty and uncomfortable and long for air-conditioning. You might be cursing the cold and the snow today, but mark my words, come August and the muggy dog days of summer, you'll be nostalgic for the cold.
Vocabulary lists containing muggy
The Sweltering Words of Summer
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English Words Derived from Old Norse
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Kindred
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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.
See Examples For:
After being shuttled in less than half an hour between aggressive air conditioning, a muggy Chicago street and the temperate library, the cup had begun producing condensation at an alarming rate.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
The southern half of the UK is likely to be more cloudy and have a muggy feel with the chance of light rain and drizzle.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Dew points above 65 degrees are considered to be muggy and somewhat uncomfortable, those above 70 feel very humid and uncomfortable, and those above 75 are oppressive, according to the Weather Service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
It was 80 degrees and muggy, and he couldn’t turn on his fan because Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city, hadn’t had any power for 20 hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Would she ever smell that muggy air again?
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
A higher dew point means the air is moister and thus will feel muggier.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2025
She said the "roasting" and "muggier" weather has made home visits a bit harder.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2022
The offseason’s great intrigue – where will LeBron go next? – began well before these finals ended, and will only get muggier and more tiring as the summer drags on.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 9, 2018
The farther I crawled, the darker and muggier it got and the heavier the flow of fumes, heat and noise.
From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2016
The air felt muggier than their normal southern Aprils.
From "Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World" by Ashley Herring Blake
Expats and tourists from some of the hottest, muggiest U.S. states are bewildered: How has a lifetime of sweltering heat not prepared them for this?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Pentagram, the Obsessed, Iron Man and other doom bands each specialized in sluggish, smothering riffs that, in their respective heydays, felt as endless and extreme as Washington at its muggiest.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 16, 2022
Yes, they’re dorky-looking, but it gives you the ability to keep your fan open and running even when it’s raining, which is often when it’s muggiest.
From The Verge ● Sep. 15, 2017
For the holiday week, the Metrograph will screen films set in some of New York’s muggiest weather.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2016
She likes the spicy soup, but she can’t understand why I only seem to make it on the hottest, muggiest nights.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
