- past participle of seethe.
sodden
Americanadjective
-
soaked with liquid or moisture; saturated.
-
heavy, lumpy, or soggy, as food that is poorly cooked.
-
having a soaked appearance.
-
bloated, as the face.
-
expressionless, dull, or stupid, especially from drunkenness.
-
lacking spirit or alertness; inert; torpid; listless.
-
Archaic. boiled.
verb (used with or without object)
-
soddens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
soddened,
past participle, past
-
soddening
present participle
-
to make or become sodden.
-
Obsolete. past participle of seethe.
adjective
-
completely saturated
-
-
dulled, esp by excessive drinking
-
( in combination )
a drink-sodden mind
-
-
heavy or doughy, as bread is when improperly cooked
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
soddensimple
-
soddenssimple
-
have soddenedperfect
-
has soddenedperfect
-
am soddeningprogressive
-
are soddeningprogressive
-
is soddeningprogressive
-
have been soddeningperfect progressive
-
has been soddeningperfect progressive
Past
-
soddenedsimple
-
had soddenedperfect
-
was soddeningprogressive
-
were soddeningprogressive
-
had been soddeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sodden
1250–1300; Middle English soden, sothen, past participle of sethen to seethe
Explanation
Pull out your galoshes. When it's been raining for days, there are puddles everywhere, and the grass is thoroughly soaked, it's safe to say the ground is sodden. Coming from the Middle English word for "boiled," sodden is certainly closely tied with lots and lots of liquid. Saturated, soppy, and soaking, anything that's sodden is drenched to the core and probably a mess. That goes for people, too: You can call someone sodden if they're acting foolish or dull, especially if they've had too much to drink.
Vocabulary lists containing sodden
Lord of the Flies
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The Hunger Games
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Words from Shakespearean Insults
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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:
He noted that the floor mat in the hall was sodden and that the door handle of the bathroom was on the floor in the hall.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
A million tons of sodden dirt avalanched down onto Riverside Drive from Elysian Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
When it flooded most recently, she was left to stay overnight in the sodden flat, as no alternative accommodation could be found.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
On the coastal road at Playa Canizo, a man in a straw hat and sodden fatigues, clasping an equally wet suitcase, thrust out his left arm, hoping for a ride to safety.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2025
The downpour pursued them to the coast, where they pitched the tent that night, and persisted through the whole week, through sodden landscapes that Harry found bleak and depressing.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
If on the fourth day he do not arrive at the belad, or country, he then takes his left sandal from his foot, and stews or soddens it, making something of a soup.
From Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2 Under the Orders and at the Expense of Her Majesty's Government by James Richardson
Kyril Kasimoff shuddered at the thought of the Beverly Crest Blüthner being hauled away like so much debris, as if its elegant frame was just another piece of soddened, shattered wood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
Rain began to fall, soddened their straw sombreros, shortened their tempers.
From Time Magazine Archive
At every sigh of the breeze a little shower of rain-drops fell pattering on to the soddened leaves and the melancholy music was resumed.
From Mr. Marx's Secret by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim
Any dimmest doubt of Selpdorf's patriotism had never during all that period entered into the soddened brain of his master.
From A Modern Mercenary by K. (Kate) Prichard
Such plants, for some time after being newly shifted, require particular attention in watering, that the soil may not become soddened.
From In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house by William Keane
Soon the rain was trickling from Dictator Stalin's hat and soddening his coat.
From Time Magazine Archive
He followed the grass-track to the north, and had walked less than half-an-hour when the wind took his cap and blew it into the middle of a pond, where it lay soddening out of reach.
From Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Eleanor Farjeon
She had cooked for him a mutton-chop, which was soddening itself between two plates upon the little table near the fire.
From Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon
On it came, winding its way in a frightful stream into the room, soddening the rich carpet, and lying presently in a black pool at my feet.
From Dreams and Dream Stories by Anna Bonus Kingsford
He may not be able to put it in words, but easterly haars, chilling rimes, drizzling mists, dagging fogs, and soddening rains speak eloquently to him of the meaning of climate.
From Meteorology or Weather Explained by J. G. M'Pherson
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.
