sandy
adjective
of the nature of or consisting of sand.
sandy
1 American
[san-dee]
/ ˈsæn di /
sandy
British
/ ˈsændɪ /
adjective
-
consisting of, containing, or covered with sand
-
(esp of hair) reddish-yellow
-
resembling sand in texture
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sandy
before 1000; Middle English; Old English sandig. See sand, -y 1
Explanation
Something that looks like sand, feels like sand, or is covered in sand is sandy. A sandy beach is lovely; a sandy bed is just uncomfortable. If your dog tracks sand indoors and spreads it all over the place, you've got a sandy house. If your sister's hair is the brownish color of sand, you can describe it as sandy too. And if you spill your ingredients when you're making a cake, you might realize that sugar and flour both look a little sandy when they're on the floor. Sandy comes from the Old English sandig, "of the nature of sand."
Vocabulary lists containing sandy
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:
Along the pool’s sandy shores, individuals can use the volleyball courts and teqball table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Tourists have been drawn to Hel's sandy beaches, ancient architecture and seal sanctuary.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Danforth also noted that the bees prefer sandy soil, which the cemetery contains in large amounts.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
Beach-house owners are trading seaside clichés—white drywall, breezy blues, sandy neutrals, etc.—for bold interiors with darker tones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
I move forward, smoothly gliding over the sandy red ground.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
Chimpanzees do not normally transport objects in their mouths, so the researchers suggest Sandy may have been concealing the crystals, behavior that could indicate she regarded them as valuable.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
One chimpanzee named Sandy displayed particularly interesting behavior.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
For two years, after losing a landmark defamation case filed by the Sandy Hook families and declaring bankruptcy, Jones has been battling the satirical news site the Onion for control of his website Infowars.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026
But his company also turns out for larger emergencies: “I was at 9/11. I was at the plane crash in Rockaway in Flight 587, Hurricane Sandy in 2012.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
As I’m walking, I see Sandy Sanders staring my way from across the field—but when I catch him looking, he practically runs off to class.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
In the drier, sandier areas of the western Kalahari Desert and Namibia, Khoisan speakers remained the dominant group until more recent times.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Mr McCann says this huge number was necessary because "the same crop can look very different if it was planted in, say, sandier soil compared to soil that gets lots of rain and sun".
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2023
Muscovado sugar is similar to brown sugar but with a much stronger flavor and a damper, sandier texture...
From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2022
Or the wines of the Marne Valley, where the sandier soils have their own softer expression.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 6, 2019
Sometimes it wanders up into middle California, but not often, seeming to prefer the more deserted, hotter, and sandier parts of southern California, and from there stretching its habitat as far east as middle Texas.
From Donahoe's Magazine, Vol. XV, No. 4, April, 1886 Volume 15 (January 1886 - July 1886) by Various
You reverse what you tried for going up and aim for the sandiest places in order to glissade down.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2014
The road was the sandiest and least traveled that he experienced.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 26, 2014
My home track is Rosebud, one of the sandiest tracks in Australia.�Your mag and web site is really great so keep up the good work!
From Time Magazine Archive
He smacked the ground face-first in the world’s sandiest belly flop.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
The sight of this man was like the finding of an oasis at the point where the desert is sandiest, deadliest, most unbearable.
From The Masquerader by Thurston, Katherine Cecil
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.
