watery

[waw-tuh-ree, wot-uh-]

adjective

1. pertaining to or connected with water.

   watery Neptune.

2. full of or abounding in water, as soil or a region; soggy; boggy.

3. containing much or too much water.

   a watery paste; a watery batter.

   Synonyms: dilute, weak, thin

4. soft, soggy, tasteless, etc., due to excessive water or overcooking.

   watery vegetables; a watery stew.

5. tearful.

6. of the nature of water.

   watery vapor.

7. resembling water in appearance or color.

   eyes of a watery blue.

8. resembling water in fluidity and absence of viscosity.

   a watery fluid.

9. of poor or weak quality; thin, washy, or vapid.

   watery prose.

10. consisting of water.

    a watery grave.

11. discharging, filled with, or secreting a waterlike morbid substance.

watery

/ ˈwɔːtərɪ /

adjective

1. relating to, consisting of, containing, or resembling water

2. discharging or secreting water or a water-like fluid

   a watery wound

3. tearful; weepy

4. insipid, thin, or weak

Other Word Forms

• waterily adverb
• wateriness noun
• unwatery adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of watery¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English wæterig. See water, -y ¹

Example Sentences

Convenience inspires many geographical connections, including the Panama Canal, essentially a watery, 50-mile desire path between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

From Thomas Mann to Daphne du Maurier, Patricia Highsmith, Michael Dibdin and Donna Leon, novelists have been drawn to the watery labyrinth where solid ground routinely crumbles and where certainty—even identity itself—might dissolve.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

When morning dawned on Tuesday, McSorley and his crew rested in their watery tomb.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

We were just specks in the ocean, as tiny as a velella or an anchovy, part of a big, watery world.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The launch was successful — for just over three minutes, at which point it failed, plunging rocket and satellite to a watery grave in the Indian Ocean.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• colorless 
• damp 
• moist 
• runny