moist

moist — adjective

1. containing a small amount of liquid spread evenly through a substance, making it

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

containing a small amount of liquid spread evenly through a substance, making it feel soft, fresh, or pleasantly damp — for example, a well-baked cake, soil that is good for plants, or skin that has been cared for with lotion.

Example

Soraya's chocolate cake was perfectly moist and rich.

collocation: moist cake / moist soil

The soil in Devika's garden stayed moist long after the rain stopped.

predicative use: stayed + moist

Common collocations
  • moist cake
  • moist soil
  • moist skin
  • moist air
  • moist cloth
  • moist heat
  • keep moist
  • stay moist
  • moist and tender
  • moist and warm
Synonyms
  • damp

    slightly wet, but often in an unpleasant way ('a damp cloth left in a heap')

  • humid

    specifically describes warm, moist air or climate, not food or skin

  • soggy

    unpleasantly wet and soft, especially of food that has lost its crispness

Antonyms
  • dry

    having no or very little water or liquid

Grammar Patterns

moist + noun (attributive)

be + moist (predicative)

Usage Note

Moist is generally positive, describing things that are pleasantly slightly wet. For an unpleasant or unwanted level of wetness, use damp or clammy instead — for example, 'a damp basement' or 'clammy hands'.

Common Mistakes

The towel was moist after the swim.
The towel was wet after the swim.
Moist is for a pleasant or desirable level of wetness; wet is the general term for any amount of water.
Taiwan is very moist in summer.
Taiwan is very humid in summer.
Humid is the correct word for describing air or weather with high moisture content.

Word family

  • moisten
    verbB2
  • moisture
    nounB2
  • moistly
    adverbC1
  • moistness
    nounC1
  • moisturizer
    nounB2
  • moisturize
    verbB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Moist, damp, and humid all describe slight wetness, but their connotations differ. Moist is the most positive, used for food, skin, or soil that is pleasantly soft or fresh ('a moist sponge cake'). Damp often carries a negative tone, describing an unwelcome amount of wetness in rooms, clothes, or weather ('a damp towel that never dried'). Humid is restricted to air or climate with high water vapour ('a hot, humid afternoon'). Soggy describes something that has become unpleasantly wet and soft, especially food that has lost its texture ('soggy cereal'). Wet is the broadest term, covering everything from slightly damp to soaking. For example: you want your cake moist but not soggy, and your bathroom may feel humid while the towel remains damp.

damp ↗humid ↗soggywet ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • pleasantly moist
  • slightly moist
  • perfectly moist
  • evenly moist

Phrases

  • keep moist
  • stay moist
  • moist and tender
  • moist and warm

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Moist entered English in the 1300s from Old French 'moiste' (meaning damp or wet), which likely traces back to Latin 'mucidus' (musty, moldy). Interestingly, the original Latin root carried a negative meaning, but over centuries the English word shifted toward a positive sense — today it commonly describes food, skin, and soil that are pleasantly slightly wet.