Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Slightly wet; damp or humid. See Synonyms at wet.
- adj. Filled with or characterized by moisture.
- adj. Tearful.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- New; fresh.
- Damp; slightly wet; suffused with wetness in a moderate degree: as, moist air; a moist hand.
- n. Wetness; wet; moisture.
- To make moist; moisten.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Moderately wet; damp; humid; not dry.
- adj. obsolete Fresh, or new.
- v. obsolete To moisten.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. slightly wet
Etymologies
- From Middle English moiste ("moist, wet", also "fresh"), from Anglo-Norman moiste and Middle French moiste ("damp, mouldy, wet"), of obscure origin and formation. Perhaps from a late variant of Latin mūcidus ("slimy, musty") combined with a reflex of Latin mustum ("must"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English moiste, from Old French, alteration (influenced by Latin musteus, juicy) of Vulgar Latin *muscidus, alteration of Latin mūcidus, moldy, from mūcus, mucus. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Keep them moist -- not wet and sodden, but _moist_ all the time.”
“I also do not like the word moist, which is why you will never see any discussion of Duncan Hines products in this space.”
“Late Night tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he is appreciative of the word moist - for being the "worst word ever.”
“Milk from another animal that is treated with a bacteria from the lining of a calves stomach and then inoculated with another bacteria to form mold and then left to age in moist dark cool place.”
“It grows 3 to 5 feet high and wide in moist soil and partial shade and blooms white from June to September.”
The Washington Post: Knowing when to prune is crucial for dependable flower blossoms
“Be sure to keep your child's skin moist with softening lotions (ask your doctor for a recommendation) and keep his or her fingernails trimmed.”
“Dry the board thoroughly, because bacteria thrive in moist places, says Alan Greene, a pediatrician at Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.”
“Unfortunately as we age and our bodies produce less estrogen, that means that they also produce less collagen and oil that help keep our skin moist and youthful looking.”
“Propagation: Desert rose can be propagated by seed, cuttings, or simply sticking dried-out branches in moist sand.”
Desert rose, dracaena and pothos: ornamental plants and flowers of tropical Mexico
“The sweetened coconut has sugar added to it before drying, so it tends to be a bit sweeter and more moist from the outset.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘moist’.
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Weird Words
Words that sound strange
flesh, moist, supple, ample, flab, tardy, fork, umber, glasses, paper, mellifluous
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incandescent
these I like very much
effervescent, snuggly, wicked, betrothed, bounce, shameful, finicky, clandestine, pontificate, luscious, lascivious, loquacious and 25 more...
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Words I dislike
bodacious, falafels, moist, fjord, strengths, stewardesses, damp, dank, no homo, crappucino, cunt, phlegm and 1 more...
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Kingly epithets
Take one of CharlesFerdinand's excellent Merovingians or Goths, add a "the" and one of these descriptors, and presto, a character for your long-planned spoof fantasy novel.
unlikely, chuckleheaded, aloof, lacklustre, slow, murky, neurotic, clichéd, pediculous, dour, bungling, dandy and 23 more...
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Words I loathe
can't, hate, skree, pomp, russel, moist, damned, pure, justified, saved, fulcrum, cooch and 11 more...
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bepetersen's list
Words that I think should be banned from the English language
spittle, supper, crusty, moist, engorged, crotch, sinew, salve, suckle, mauve, damp, squat and 34 more...
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Dan’s Reading List
Memo to myself: Read these definitions and comments.
Memo to everyone else: Thanks for adding, by the way—I do very much appreciate it. I try to move things from here to my bookmark...moist, yarb, theodolite, fufluns, plummet, crepuscular, twist, pique, umbrage, the united states..., smeath, new interface and 9 more...
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Hate
Words I can't stand
moist, shunt, falafels, dank, chyle, pus, puss, girthy, impregnation, encroached, orifice, fondling and 3 more...
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Words We Dislike!
A list created for TRM, because there are certain words that we just kind of hate.
lover, fetus, smegma, saggy, coulomb, placenta, consumate, moist, sticky, bedroom suit, jiggles, blubber and 52 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 597 more... -
Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2455 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3063 more... -
Dingleberries
SLUTS
rizoozoo, moist, german, spock, dick tater, beast, jesus of azeroth, brittahz, purple-mounted, enema
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words that suck
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I don't care for that word
My dandy voice makes the most anti choice grannies' panties moist.
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My first attempt.
Simply stated, my first list.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for moist.
Stacie Brunner simply not a fan of this word. Mar 24, 2012
madmouth 'Freak him, freak her, whatever your choice
I didn't come to judge, I just came to get you moist'
-Missy Elliott Aug 27, 2010
Jubjub The etymologies don't help much. One gives us the impression of some sort of clean, baptismal rebirth: new, fresh. The other claims it derives from mold and mucus. So I guess the resolution is to see moist in the sense of a new and fresh, moldy mucus. (As in, "Hey that's some new mold on that there mucus!") Nov 12, 2009
fehguy How about a piece of moist cake? There's nothing to hate about that. Nov 12, 2009
kirby1024 There are many people who seem to have an aversion to this word, despite having no obscene connotations. For these people, hearing the word causes any number of negative feelings. Jun 27, 2009
reesetee Yes, I was wondering which one myself, yarb! Apr 20, 2009
yarb Your weather forecaster is a poet. "Moist and fairly potent"! Or a pornographer. Apr 20, 2009
reesetee I just wanted to tell everyone that "a moist and fairly potent complex low pressure system" is moving into this area, according to the latest local weather forecast. So if you hate "moist," don't visit here in the next few days.
*readying umbrella*
Apr 20, 2009
bilby An apt offering from Craftastrophe.
Apr 5, 2009
bilby *smoothes his whiskers into a handlebar mo* Dec 1, 2008
rolig A person who practices moism. Dec 1, 2008
self_evident Reading this comment feed was actually painful for me. Nov 19, 2008
bilby You have company. Whine away! Oct 9, 2008
ciaoginny Moist is my least favorite word of all time. Oct 9, 2008
reesetee That sounds more weather-ish to me. Oct 3, 2008
chained_bear For some reason, though my hatred of this word has not abated, I don't mind the word moisture. Oct 3, 2008
reesetee Haha! Why am I surprised? ;-) Oct 3, 2008
plethora There's a Facebook group. Oct 3, 2008
chained_bear Rolig, I think the name is lovely, and so are the sounds (and the spelling!). I wasn't using it as a swear-word-type exclamation.
"Mojca!"
Tell your friend her name is beautiful, probably as beautiful as she is. :) Sep 10, 2008
pterodactyl Moist doesn't make me gag. It makes me giggle. It just seems inherently ridiculous, and for that I love it.
Rolig -- I think part of the reason why moisten is sexier than dampen is that dampen doesn't just mean "make wet". It also means something like suppress or reduce. Sep 10, 2008
reesetee Ooh, lovely, rolig!
Frog, don't forget that chained could use that word just to throw you off.
On second thought. . . . No. No, I don't think she'd be able to see her way to doing even that. Sep 9, 2008
rolig I have a good friend here named Mojca, so use it with care when you're exclaiming. It's actually a lovely old Slavic name, which originally meant something like "My own darling one" (from moja "my" fem. + ica, a diminutive/affectionate suffix). Sep 9, 2008
chained_bear Rolig: I'm not sure it's the diphthong so much—the examples you cite actually sound like fun, and I've been known to ejaculate "Oy!" quite often—but as I wander through my "favorites" lists (and god knows there are enough of them), I'll keep an eye out. The nasal thing, you're probably right about.
Mojca! I like that as an exclamation. Mojca! Sep 9, 2008
frogapplause Note to self: If "moist" is ever listed on "Identify the Wordie", it is NOT c_b! Sep 9, 2008
rolig Oy, c_b, it seems like it's the oi diphthong you don't like, especially in combination with m and n (nasals). You might have problems in my adopted country, where the most common exclamation (for expressing worry, distress, alarm, shock) is Oj joj! (Oy yoy!) and one of the most common female names is Mojca (pronounced MOY-tsa). Sep 9, 2008
chained_bear This is one of the words that made me realize when I was very young that some words suck. I remember conjuring a sentence made of a bunch of words I didn't like, much to the amusement of an older sister (who still utters said sentence on occasion just to watch me squirm):
"Would you like a package of moist ointment with your meal at Lemoyne Sleeper? How about some drink?"
Gah!! They all still bug me. Sep 9, 2008
reesetee Good thinking. I know I'm going against the crowd, but I really don't dislike the word. I don't love it, but I don't dislike it. Sep 9, 2008
rolig This word is going on my Fibrous Words list. I like it. It is what it is. It's not as wet as wet, but is a lot moister, and sexier, than damp. (Compare something that moistens your mood vs. something that dampens your mood.) By the way, in Slovene, the word mojster (pronounced just like "moister") means master, but more than that it means maestro and master craftsman, tradesman, etc. When you're having trouble with your plumbing, you hire a mojster. Sep 9, 2008
crunchysaviour This does, indeed, seem to be a widely despised word. I do not have that little switch in my mind that makes me gag when I hear it, that so many others seem to. Aug 21, 2008
plethora Ew, bilby. Apr 19, 2008
bilby I live in moist. It grows on my bloody ceiling, sprouts hairs on the fans and gives me fungus in the *(&^%/! Enough moist! Apr 19, 2008
seanahan Let's examine some of the lists this is on.
BAD words, by fluffymoo
words that make my skin crawl, by minervacat
Words I Hate, by Magwitch
Words I Hate, by MacBean
Words I Absolutely Can NOT Stand., by andrea
Unspeakables, by roblord
Words I dislike, by SarahCN
words i hate, by beccacat
Words that I hate with the fire of a thousand suns:, by noverb
Totally Normal Words That Can Make You Squirm, by tjesser
least favorite words, by neversent
words I cannot stand, by punky
Words I Hate, by masonm894
Words I just don't like at all . . ., by kingofbash
Hates, by HKNovielli
Grrrrr, by ElmoAli
gross., by rhoda
black listed, by actingsoadultnow
horribleawfulterrible words, by doublefourtime
Not fond of, by ashtonhaley
Hmm, it looks like a lot of people hate this word. Oct 28, 2007
sionnach Why do people hate this word so vehemently? Oct 28, 2007
reesetee Maybe you're on the paid subscription page? Oct 12, 2007
jennarenn Ok, why is Flickr/Yahoo asking for my credit-card number? Oct 12, 2007
reesetee Wait a minute--there's a Wordie Flickr group?? Why didn't someone say something???
*flipping through photos for good ones* Oct 11, 2007
john Oh my.
This reminds me of the Wordie Flickr group, which has been dormant for a while. Good opportunity to let new folks know of its existence and encourage them to join, and inspire us to dig up some good word/text photos for posting. Oct 11, 2007
kewpid
Oct 11, 2007
reesetee I had a good laugh reading the titles of the lists where this word ended up. It's like walking out of the courthouse through a jeering crowd of protesters.
Not that I'd know what that was like. Oct 11, 2007
chained_bear I still say: Eew. Oct 11, 2007
uselessness Hmm, it was many months ago. I did a lot of extensive "research" on the nets to verify each word. So though I can't recall it specifically now, I'm pretty sure I saw it used that way a couple times. Probably because people are strange, and consider themselves ironic. Oct 11, 2007
jennarenn How did this word make it onto The History of Cool? Oct 11, 2007
chained_bear Edit my previous comment: I would run for the door, but I would not drop my drink. Oct 10, 2007
uselessness It's part of my new super-duper word-rating scale. Not a favorable score. Oct 10, 2007
sonofgroucho What does "crufty" mean, or should one never ask that? Oct 10, 2007
jennarenn Save it for Talk Like a Pirate Day. Feb 20, 2007
abraxaszugzwang Man, so many people hate this word. Btw, I love the name Moistened Wench! Feb 20, 2007
chained_bear I agree with ss6233, to the letter. I don't ever want to buy a product with this word on it. Even if it's supposed to be, you know, a box of Moist. Eeeeyew.
And "Moistened Wench"? I guess it's a good name for a pirate ship, but if I overheard this phrase at a party, I would drop my drink and literally run for the door. Jan 31, 2007
beardofbees It's this love/hate thing that illustrate's moist's loaded nature. It's so evocative. I also like moistened. If I were a pirate my ship would be called the Moistened Wench. Jan 31, 2007
ss6233 I can't even deal with it. When I go to buy cake mix at the store, I am totally conflicted. Just use the word "fresh" instead of the dreaded "m word." Sick times 20, y'all. Jan 2, 2007
oroboros why not try: madefy Dec 20, 2006
andrea The word moist makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Dec 20, 2006
bobfet1 I really like moist. It is a very moist sounding word Dec 13, 2006
born2badored Why do so many people hate moist? I love it! take 5
1. I hate dry mouth
2. I love turning you on
3. cracked lips? blah!
4.Tears of Joy on my cashmere sweater
5. summer nights, the grass on my tired feat. Dec 6, 2006