moisten
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of moisten
Explanation
To moisten is to make something slightly damp or just barely wet. It used to be necessary to moisten a postage stamp with your tongue before sticking it on an envelope, but today stamps stick without being licked. A misty rain will moisten your hair, and running uphill moistens your forehead with sweat. Your houseplant that prefers a small amount of water will be happiest if you barely moisten the soil. While rain overnight will leave your front lawn soaking wet, the morning dew will simply moisten each blade of grass. Moisten comes from moist, from the Old French moiste, "damp." The Latin root means something closer to "moldy or slimy."
Vocabulary lists containing moisten
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.
There’s nothing like a life-and-death situation turning out “life” to moisten one’s eyes, especially if you or a loved one has spent any time in the medical system, or feared the possibility.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2025
Then, they used energy dissipation models to compare the seals' ability to warm and moisten air during inhalation and to reduce heat and moisture loss during exhalation.
From Science Daily • Dec. 14, 2023
Rub a cut lemon around the rim of your serving dish to moisten.
From Washington Times • May 28, 2023
You need gravy on Thanksgiving to aid the turkey, moisten the potatoes, douse the stuffing.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 13, 2022
These I moisten in dew and dip in hazelnuts I pounded to a powder with a stone.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
