- wet
- wet, damp, dank, moist, humid are comparable when they mean covered or more or less soaked with liquid.Wet may be used with no further implications or it may specifically imply saturation{
wet clothes
}{the rain lies in puddles on the wet ground
}Often, however, the term refers to a surface covered with liquid{wet pavements
}{wet hands
}{cheeks wet with tears
}But wet often means merely not dry, or not yet dry, especially when used in reference to something (as paint, ink, or glue)which has been applied to or used on a surface.Damp differs from wet chiefly in implying a slight or moderate absorption or covering and often in connoting the presence of unpleasant or disagreeable wetness{damp shoes
}{the sheets on the bed are damp
}{a damp house
}However damp usually implies less wetness than is commonly suggested by the adjective wet{sheets should be damp when they are ironed
}Dank unequivocally applies to what is disagreeably, penetratingly or, from the point of view of health or comfort, dangerously, wet{a cold dank mist
}{dank forests
}{a dank cellar
}Moist often suggests little more than the absence of dryness or a not unpleasant dampness (moist eyes){moist air
}{moist heat
}Humid is chiefly used to imply an oppressive degree of moisture in warm air{the humid atmosphere of early August
}{the humid prairie heat, so nourishing to wheat and corn, so exhausting to human beings— Cather
}{a firefly ... on a humid summer's night— Furnas
}Analogous words: soaked, saturated, drenched, waterlogged (see SOAK vb)Antonyms: dry
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.