sultry
[suhl-tree]
- oppressively hot and close or moist; sweltering: a sultry day.
- 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.
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Origin of sultry
Synonyms
See more synonyms for sultry on Thesaurus.com1. oppressive, stifling, humid.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sultriness
Contemporary Examples
With Perl in particular, a former makeup artist, there is a sultriness to her metallic eye shadow and her painted lips.
The Sisterhood of Bulletproof Stockings: It’s Ladies’ Night for Hasidic RockersEmily Shire
September 30, 2014
Historical Examples
A week went by,—a week of weather that had all the sultriness of August.
The water was inviting, with the sultriness of the afternoon.
The Rival Campers AshoreRuel Perley Smith
What with the dancing and the sultriness of the weather, the night was about as hot as an oven.
Johnny Ludlow. First SeriesMrs. Henry Wood
It was, as he said, a splendid day—all sultriness dissipated by the strong wind.
RutledgeMiriam Coles Harris
Upon him and his mother lay the sultriness of a brewing tempest.
The Burning SecretStefan Zweig
sultry
- (of weather or climate) oppressively hot and humid
- characterized by or emitting oppressive heat
- displaying or suggesting passion; sensualsultry eyes
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Word Origin
C16: from obsolete sulter to swelter + -y 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for sultriness
sultry
adj.
1590s, "oppressively hot, close and moist" (of weather), from obsolete verb sulter "to swelter" (1580s), alteration of swelter. Figurative sense of "hot with lust" is attested from 1704; of women, "lascivious, sensual, arousing desire" it is recorded from 1940.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper