sultry
Americanadjective
-
oppressively hot and close or moist; sweltering.
a sultry day.
- Synonyms:
- humid, stifling, oppressive
-
oppressively hot; emitting great heat.
the sultry sun.
-
characterized by or associated with sweltering heat.
sultry work in the fields.
-
characterized by or arousing passion.
sultry eyes.
adjective
-
(of weather or climate) oppressively hot and humid
-
characterized by or emitting oppressive heat
-
displaying or suggesting passion; sensual
sultry eyes
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sultry
Explanation
Stifling, humid and downright oppressive, sultry is an adjective that has everything to do with sweltering heat and a definite need for a tall glass of iced tea. You know how movies about the Old South always show people wilting in the shade of their front porches, mopping their damp brows? Well that's because of the sultry summer weather. A sultry atmosphere is a thick, almost swampy feeling. And all that heavy heat can certainly get passions stirring — "a sultry look" is one that happens to express steamy desire.
Vocabulary lists containing sultry
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Term-ometer: Synonyms for "Hot"
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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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:
The sultry “Hard Times” combines a slow cha-cha-cha rhythm with strings, horns, electric keyboards and a reverb-heavy bass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
After that came the singer’s dreamiest hit, “Somewhere Over Laredo,” and an especially sultry take on “Watermelon Moonshine,” the nostalgia-drunk love song from 2023 that’s probably still her finest moment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
In a sultry basement bar on a Wednesday night in downtown Manhattan, some serious trash talking was going on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Even masala chai would lose its signature, sultry kick.
From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2026
In the evening it grows sultry and the heat rises from the earth.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
Van Morrison’s Moondance, despite being constantly wrung out by classic-rock radio and adult-contemporary stations alike, still evokes the possibility offered by summertime’s shorter, sultrier nights.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 14, 2015
The air was sultrier than ever, heavy with fragrance and enervating with forebodings of a storm.
From A Transient Guest and Other Episodes by Saltus, Edgar
One evening it seemed hotter and sultrier than ever.
From Our Home in the Silver West A Story of Struggle and Adventure by Stables, Gordon
Then—for thy shelter from life's sultrier suns, The oak of strength I set o'er joy that runs With brooklet glee from winds that grieve above.
From Song-Surf by Rice, Cale Young
A yet sultrier warmth was bestowed by a goodly quantity of peat, which was crumbling to white ashes among the burning brands, and incensed the kitchen with its not ungrateful fragrance.
From The Blithedale Romance by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
The three hottest years in the past century have come in the past decade, and 1995 was the sultriest on record.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was the sultriest day of the whole season—surely they could not think of shutting up the second-floor back windows to-night!
From A Rogue's Life by Collins, Wilkie
In the sultriest weather this little arbor was cool and pleasant, and here Napoleon was in the habit of taking his books and papers when he wished to work out of doors.
From Napoleon's Young Neighbor by Reed, Helen Leah
The day had been one of the sultriest of August.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 01, November, 1857 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various
That Canyon was the sultriest place I have ever struck, and my experience includes some of the hottest sections this side of the equator.
From Ancient Chinese account of the Grand Canyon, or course of the Colorado by McAllan, Alexander
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.
