DictionaryAI

wet

WET/wɛt/

Adjectivewetter, wettest

Verbwets, wetting, wet

Noun pluralwets (some meanings)

Often confused with whet

30 meanings of wet

Practice

  1. 1
    soakedadjective
    Covered or soaked with water or another liquid, including food covered in sauce.

    After the storm, the kids left their wet boots in a muddy pile by the back door.

    After he fell in the river, his clothes were completely wet.

    UsageYou get wet in the rain; for completely wet, say soaking wet or wet through.

    Similarsodden

    Oppositedry

    Note

    Here the liquid sits on something else or soaks into it: clothes after rain, a baby's diaper. A wet baby needs changing, which ties this sense to the bed-wetting verb.

  2. 2
    adjective
    Of weather or a stretch of time, marked by rain; rainy.

    The crops failed after an unusually wet spring.

    Forecasters warned that the weekend would be cold and wet.

    UsageUsed for weather and stretches of time: a wet summer, it's going to be wet tomorrow.

    Similarrainy, raining, damp

    Oppositedry, sunny

    Note

    John Milton's Comus (1637) already speaks of "wet Octobers torrent flood."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  3. 3
    adjective
    Consisting of liquid or moisture, usually water but not always.

    Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, then slowly stir in the flour.

    Don't sit there. The varnish is still wet.

    Similardamp, moist, soaked

    Oppositedry

  4. 4
    verbtransitive or intransitive
    To make something wet, or to become wet.

    Within an hour, my cheap jacket began to wet through at the shoulders.

    Wet the cloth with warm water before you wipe the baby's face.

    UsageWithout an object, everyday English more often says get wet: my jacket got wet.

    Similarmoisten, dampen

    Oppositedry

    Note

    Without an object, the verb describes something becoming wet on its own. The bare intransitive can sound deliberate or lyrical: in a 2008 song by The Front Bottoms, the singer's eyes refuse to wet.

  5. 5
    adjective
    Done using water or other liquids or substances, as in an industrial process or laboratory work.

    Wet scrubbing removes pollutants from factory exhaust by passing it through liquid.

    The plant relies on a wet cooling system that sprays water over the coils.

    Oppositedry

    Note

    Chemistry and industry use it to name a method: the process runs through water or another liquid. The classic contrast is the wet extraction of copper versus dry extraction, which relies on heat or fusion instead. The same word marks a family of techniques, such as wet scrubbing and wet cooling, each set against a dry route to the same result.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Wet copper extraction contrasts with dry extraction using heat or fusion. en.wiktionary.org
    • Wet scrubbing has a corresponding dry technique. frtr.gov
    • Wet cooling uses water and contrasts with dry cooling using air. ipieca.org
  6. 6
    pee by accidentverbtransitive
    To make oneself, one's clothing, or a bed wet through accidental urination.

    The child wet the bed twice during the thunderstorm.

    Young puppies sometimes wet the floor when they get excited.

    UsageUsually in wet the bed, wet your pants, or wet yourself; the past is usually wet.

    Note

    The accident is built into the meaning, so no word for urine is needed. Wet the bed or wet yourself says it all, and the verb suits children, excited puppies and helpless laughter alike.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • 'Wet the bed' means urinating in one's bed, usually while asleep. The broader urination sense, rather than that particular phrase, covers the other examples. en.wiktionary.org
  7. 7
    arousedadjectiveslangvulgar
    Sexually aroused, with the vulva moistened by vaginal secretions.

    She was wet long before they reached the bedroom.

    The sound of his voice alone was enough to make her wet.

    Similararoused, horny, moist, excited, hot

    Note

    The same words also work innocently: "he got me all wet" could follow a splash at the pool. Only context decides which reading is meant.

  8. 8
    monsoonnounAustraliausually singular
    The annual season of heavy rain.

    Travel becomes difficult across the north during the Wet.

    They stock up on supplies before the wet sets in.

    UsageUsually the Wet, often with a capital, and paired with the Dry.

    Similarmonsoon

    Oppositedry

    Note

    Australian English gives the rainy season a proper name: the Wet, often capitalized. It belongs especially to the tropical north. Writers from Xavier Herbert's Capricornia (1938) to Alexis Wright's Carpentaria (2006) treat it as a season with clear edges. It settles over the plains, kicks in up north, and can strand travelers for months behind swollen rivers.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • The rainy season described belongs especially to tropical northern Australia. bom.gov.au
    • Xavier Herbert wrote Capricornia, first published in 1938. en.wikipedia.org
    • Alexis Wright wrote Carpentaria, first published in 2006. giramondopublishing.com
    • Capricornia treats the Wet as a season that ends. archive.org
    • Carpentaria describes the Wet arriving again over the plains. en.wiktionary.org
    • The northern wet season can strand travelers for months while swollen rivers remain impassable. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English wet, the past participle of weten ("to wet"), from Old English wǣtan ("to wet, moisten"), tracing back through Proto-Germanic to the Proto-Indo-European root *wed- ("water, wet"), which also gives us "water." It is related to a separate Middle English adjective weet ("wet"), with cognates in Frisian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

  • Wet derives from Middle English wet, a past participle of weten, meaning 'to wet'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The Middle English verb derives from Old English wǣtan, meaning 'to wet, moisten'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The ancestry passes through Proto-Germanic to Proto-Indo-European *wed-, meaning 'water, wet'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Water also derives ultimately from *wed-. en.wiktionary.org
  • The participial form is related to Middle English weet, an adjective meaning 'wet' inherited from Old English. en.wiktionary.org
  • Related forms occur in Frisian, Dutch (attested here as Middle Dutch), Swedish, Danish and Icelandic. en.wiktionary.org