wet
Americanadjective
-
wetter,
comparative
-
wettest
superlative
-
moistened, covered, or soaked with water or some other liquid.
wet hands.
- Antonyms:
- dry
-
in a liquid form or state.
wet paint.
-
characterized by the presence or use of water or other liquid.
-
moistened or dampened with rain; rainy.
Wet streets make driving hazardous.
- Synonyms:
- misty
-
allowing or favoring the sale of alcoholic beverages.
a wet town.
-
characterized by frequent rain, mist, etc..
the wet season.
-
laden with a comparatively high percent of moisture or vapor, especially water vapor.
There was a wet breeze from the west.
- Synonyms:
- humid
-
Informal.
-
marked by drinking.
a wet night.
-
using water or done under or in water, as certain chemical, mining, and manufacturing processes.
noun
-
something that is or makes wet, as water or other liquid; moisture.
The wet from the earth had made the basement unlivable.
- Synonyms:
- humidity
-
damp weather; rain.
Stay out of the wet as much as possible.
- Synonyms:
- drizzle
-
a person in favor of allowing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.
-
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. wetback.
verb (used with object)
-
wets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wet,
past participle, past
-
wetted,
past participle, past
-
wetting
present participle
-
to make (something) wet, as by moistening or soaking (sometimes followed by through ordown ).
Wet your hands before soaping them.
-
to urinate on or in.
The dog had wet the carpet.
verb (used without object)
-
wets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wet,
past participle, past
-
wetted,
past participle, past
-
wetting
present participle
-
to become wet (sometimes followed by through ordown ).
Dampness may cause plastered walls to wet. My jacket has wet through.
-
(of animals and children) to urinate.
idioms
adjective
-
moistened, covered, saturated, etc, with water or some other liquid
-
not yet dry or solid
wet varnish
-
rainy, foggy, misty, or humid
wet weather
-
employing a liquid, usually water
a wet method of chemical analysis
-
characterized by or permitting the free sale of alcoholic beverages
a wet state
-
informal feeble or foolish
-
informal immature or inexperienced; naive
noun
-
wetness or moisture
-
damp or rainy weather
-
informal a Conservative politician who is considered not to be a hard-liner Compare dry
-
informal a feeble or foolish person
-
a person who advocates free sale of alcoholic beverages
-
(in northern and central Australia) the rainy season
verb
-
to make or become wet
-
to urinate on (something)
-
dialect (tr) to prepare (tea) by boiling or infusing
-
informal to take an alcoholic drink
Synonym Usage
Wet, drench, saturate, soak imply moistening something. To wet is to moisten in any manner with water or other liquid: to wet or dampen a cloth. Drench suggests wetting completely as by a downpour: A heavy rain drenched the fields. Saturate implies wetting to the limit of absorption: to saturate a sponge. To soak is to keep in a liquid for a time: to soak beans before baking.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
wetnessnoun
-
wettabilitynoun
-
wetternoun
-
rewetverb
-
nonwettedadjective
-
unwetadjective
-
unwettedadjective
-
wettableadjective
-
wettishadjective
-
wetlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wetsimple
-
wetssimple
-
have wetperfect
-
have wettedperfect
-
has wetperfect
-
has wettedperfect
-
am wettingprogressive
-
are wettingprogressive
-
is wettingprogressive
-
have been wettingperfect progressive
-
has been wettingperfect progressive
Past
-
wetsimple
-
wettedsimple
-
had wetperfect
-
had wettedperfect
-
was wettingprogressive
-
were wettingprogressive
-
had been wettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wet
First recorded before 900; Middle English wett, past participle of weten, Old English wǣtan “to wet”; replacing Middle English weet, Old English wǣt, cognate with Old Frisian wēt, Old Norse vātr; akin to water
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:
Finish the batter: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined, then fold in the carrots and candied peel, if using.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
The primary suite boasts a glass wall and a Zen-inspired bathroom with a wet room that includes a shower and a soaking tub.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
“But this is good for him to learn, just to play in different venues and travel around and get his feet wet playing covers.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
These shots of concentrated caffeine are meant to be sipped, not sniffed, but one whiff of a ragingly popular one—bouquet de Dubble Bubble and wet sneakers—was enough to put me off them forever.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
I scrubbed quickly with the soap, making sure my hair was wet all the way through before jumping back out and wrapping myself in a towel.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
The rover has found chemical traces left behind by this wetter period, including carbon-based molecules believed to be precursors to RNA and DNA, two nucleic acids that carry genetic information.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
While El Niño brings colder and wetter conditions to the Southern U.S., it typically generates drier and warmer weather up north.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Most of Wales and Northern Ireland have also had rainfall deficits, although parts of western Scotland have been wetter than average.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
But while spring and early summer have been relatively dry for much of the country - with temperatures regularly exceeding 30C - winter was much wetter than usual.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
As the forest became wetter and swampier, she had to avoid stepping into still, black pools that looked like shadows.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
The wettest weather will affect the north-west of the UK, which has already seen plenty of rain this month.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
His www.weathertrends360.com External link forecasts show that “This year we have it even wetter, and by late Summer-Fall we have it the wettest for the U.S. in 8 years.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 20, 2026
But in late March 2026 - after one of the wettest winters since 1836 - the Environment Agency confirmed that eastern England the last region still in 'recovery' to 'normal' conditions.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
Out of nearly 260 years of records, six out of the ten wettest winter half-years - the period from October to March - have been since the year 2000.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
New Guinea is one of the wettest areas on Earth, Australia one of the driest.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
What is the point of the full wets?
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2024
And somehow, a man who openly parties so hard that he unabashedly wets the bed very much is.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2023
Highs will bounce around in the 50s over the next few days as a slug of widespread rainfall wets pavement across the Seattle area.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2023
Hauser has found that people will give their lawns a quick watering in the morning and evening, but that can be a wasted effort that wets the soil’s surface and doesn’t get to the roots.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 20, 2021
He picks up a towel and wets it, then kneels down beside me and carefully wipes my face.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Some leaned down, put their hands in the water and wetted their necks and hair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
“If your germination mix isn’t fully wetted at the start,” Schuyler said, “subsequent waterings won’t fully wet it, and there will be dead spots the water never got to.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2023
It’s great spectator sport, and if you’re willing to be wetted with spray for long enough, you can see a man haul in a striped bass that measures from his shoulder to his ankle.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 3, 2020
Yet, just as they would for a big game involving the Giants or Jets, the fans remained, their enthusiasm only whetted, not wetted down.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 8, 2018
Chase dipped his hand in the pot, wetted his fingers, and sprinkled his red face with a few drops of water.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
But at Dilley, she regressed behaviorally, wetting herself after years without accidents and begging to breastfeed again despite being 6 years old.
From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2026
Children may have heavier nappies or they may start wetting the bed because they're peeing more.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
You never want to be their target, but watching their vicious crowd work from a safe distance mainly places you in danger of wetting yourself with a spit-take.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2026
How old were you when you stopped wetting your bed?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
Litres of water used up in the wetting of stamps.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
