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watery

American  
[waw-tuh-ree, wot-uh-] / ˈwɔ tə ri, ˈwɒt ə- /

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 British  
/ 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

"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

Etymology

Origin of watery

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

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.

Appeared in the March 25, 2026, print edition as 'A Surfer Faces Her Watery Fear'.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

Construction of a housing estate at the other end of Watery Lane was already causing access problems.

From BBC • Jan. 22, 2025

Watery straits, which connected the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, had risen above the water thousands of years ago.

From Scientific American • Aug. 13, 2021

Watery figuration in the piano and trills in the violin set a contemplative tone that expands into supreme, stunning lyricism.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2019

Watery rice with maggots in it is all they give us here.

From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake

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.