dew
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dooIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdu
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
Moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.
uncountable
Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
countablebut see usage notes
An instance of such moisture settling on plants, etc.
figurative
Anything that falls lightly and in a refreshing manner.
figurative
An emblem of morning, or fresh vigour.
An energy weapon whose energy emissions are focused into a narrow beam.
verb
transitive
To wet with, or as if with, dew; to moisten.
intransitive
To deposit dew.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.
Used this way, dew is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dew
- “In the morning the grass was wet with dew.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “dew” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.