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Synonyms

steamy

American  
[stee-mee] / ˈsti mi /

adjective

  • steamier,
    comparative
  • steamiest
    superlative
  1. consisting of or resembling steam.

  2. full of or abounding in steam; emitting steam.

  3. covered with or as if with condensed steam.

    a steamy bathroom mirror.

  4. hot and humid.

  5. Informal. passionate or erotic.


steamy British  
/ ˈstiːmɪ /

adjective

  1. of, resembling, full of, or covered with steam

  2. informal lustful or erotic

    steamy nightlife

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

Etymology

Origin of steamy

First recorded in 1635–45; steam + -y 1

Vocabulary lists containing steamy

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:

Graham was meeting and greeting voters on a steamy Sunday afternoon at a waterfront venue in suburban Charleston.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

I love an impromptu party, especially in the dead of winter and when it involves a luxurious, steamy bowl of soup.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026

"Wuthering Heights," Emerald Fennell's steamy adaptation of the classic Emily Bronte novel, charmed moviegoers in North America over the four-day US holiday weekend, raking in $40 million, industry estimates showed Sunday.

From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026

So, “if you have a super steamy bathroom with condensation dripping down the mirror, avoid including anything valuable,” Elliott says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2025

My mother kept all of us on a diet of rice and guava leaves in the form of hourly cups of steamy tea, with sugarcane swizzle sticks.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

Their blues-based rock ’n’ roll is darker, steamier.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

But in many rural communities, people stay outside late, cooking, socializing, or doing school work and avoiding hot houses made even steamier by metal roofs, Paaijmans and his colleagues have found.

From Science Magazine ● Sep. 8, 2022

If you thought it felt a bit steamier the last time you went to Bed, Bath & Beyond, you wouldn’t be alone.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 29, 2022

After lunch — sandwiches eaten while sitting on logs above a lightly steaming hillside green with mosses — several of us try to ski up to the top of an even steamier hillside.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022

This room is hotter and steamier than the others because the snakes and turtles need it to be; it smells musky.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

We did not quite go back to spring or forward to fall in Washington on Sunday, but it did seem that we said farewell — however briefly — to the steamiest side of summer.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 18, 2021

Wednesday, the last day of June, was 95 — our steamiest of the year so far.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 2, 2021

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed perhaps their steamiest rendition yet of Shallow, from their film A Star is Born.

From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2019

The mirror is “more than a match for even the steamiest bathroom,” the website promises, which honestly sounds like a challenge to me, as I pride myself on my steamy bathroom.

From Slate ● Jul. 9, 2018

Build a development in the steamiest, nastiest jungle, and test recruits for the colony there.

From The Merchants of Venus by A. H. Phelps

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