Word.ws English Dictionary

damp

/ˈdæmp//ˈdeə̯mp/

damp adjective: in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.

Adjective

damp (comparative damper, superlative dampest)

  1. In a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.
    • 25 January 2017, Leena Camadoo writing in The Guardian, Dominican banana producers at sharp end of climate change
      Once the farms have been drained and the dead plants have been cut down and cleared, farmers then have to be alert for signs of black sigatoka, a devastating fungus which flourishes in...
    • She said no more. The trembling Trojans hear,
      O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear.1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 364, lines...
    Synonyms:
    moist
  2. (figuratively) Despondent; dispirited, downcast.
    • 27 July 2016, Jane O’Faherty in The Irish Independent, Monarchs and prison officers win big on second race day
      Though Travis's 'Why does it always Rain on Me' boomed around the stands, there were few damp spirits in Galway on day two of the races.
    • All these and more came flocking; but with looks / Down cast and damp.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    Synonyms:
    glum
  3. Permitting the possession of alcoholic beverages, but not their sale.
    • The Roadhouse was twenty-seve miles down the road from Niniltna, nine feet and three inches outside the Niniltna Native Association's tribal jurisdiction, and therefore not subject to the dry law currently in effect. Or was it damp? Kate thought it might have changed, yet again, at the last...2002, Dana Stabenow, A Fine and Bitter Snow, →ISBN, page 32

Noun (1)

damp (countable and uncountable, plural damps)

  1. Moisture; humidity; dampness.
    • Ere twice in murk and occidental damp / Moist Hesperus hath quench’d his sleepy lamp,c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • What means this chilling damp that clings around me! / Why do I tremble thus!1764, Elizabeth Griffith, Amana, London: W. Johnston, act V, page 49
  2. (archaic) Fog; fogginess; vapor.
    • Night […] with black air / Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    • Her chilling finger on my head,
      With coldest touch congealed my soul—
      Cold as the finger of the dead,
      Or damps which round a tombstone roll—1810, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Shelley, “Warrior”, in Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire, London: John Lane, published 1898, page 57
  3. (archaic) Dejection or depression; something that spoils a positive emotion (such as enjoyment, satisfaction, expectation or courage) or a desired activity.
    • Ev’n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence, / A secret Damp of Grief comes o’er my Thoughts,1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 35
    • But though the War was proclaim’d, and Preparations accordingly made for it, the Expectations from all receiv’d a sudden Damp, by the as sudden Death of King William.1728, George Carleton (attributed to Daniel Defoe), The Memoirs of an English Officer, London: E. Symon, p. 72
  4. (archaic, historical) A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pits, etc.
    • There are sulphurous Vapours which infect the Vegetables, and render the Grass unwholsom to the Cattle that feed upon it: Miners are often hurt by these Steams. Observations made in some of the Mines in Derbyshire, describe four sorts of those Damps.1733, John Arbuthnot, chapter 1, in An Essay Concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies, London: Jacob Tonson, page 19

Verb

damp (third-person singular simple present damps, present participle damping, simple past and past participle damped)

  1. (transitive) To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).
    • Hydraulic shock absorbers are used to damp out vertical and lateral oscillations.1960 February, “The first of London's new Piccadilly Line trains is delivered”, in Trains Illustrated, page 93
  2. (archaic, transitive) To dampen; to make moderately wet.
    • to damp cloth
    • It just damps a bit, but it een't not to sey reen.1890, Lord Henry Haughton Reynolds Moreton, A Glossary of Dialect & Archaic Words Used in the County of Gloucester, page 136
    Synonyms:
    moisten
  3. (archaic, transitive) To put out, as fire; to weaken, restrain, or make dull.
    • How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word!1887, Sir John Lubbock, The Pleasures of Life
    • My Lords, that I am yet to be told that it behoves a Minister of this free country to set bounds to the philanthropy, to cramp the charity, to fetter the public spirit, to contract the enterprise, to damp the independent self-reliance of its people.1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Book 1 Chapter 34”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC

Proper noun capitalized: Damp

Damp

  1. A municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
  2. A surname from German.
  3. A surname from English.

Noun (2) capitalized: DAMP

DAMP (countable and uncountable, plural DAMPs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of damage-associated molecular pattern.
  2. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of deficits in attention, motor control and perception.

damp meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Malay and Indonesian

damp in Hindi

Being in a state between dry and wet
आर्द्र ārdra

damp in Arabic

moisture
رُطُوبة ruṭūba

damp in Malay

Being in a state between dry and wet
lembap

damp in Indonesian

Being in a state between dry and wet
lembap
More languagesFewer languages
damp in Persian
نمناک namnâk
damp in Thai
ชุ่มชื้น chûm-chʉ́ʉn, ชื้น chʉ́ʉn, หมาด màat
damp in Vietnamese
ẩm

Examples of damp in a sentence

  • The lawn was still damp so we decided not to sit down.
  • The paint is still damp, so please don't touch it.
  • Kate thought it might have changed, yet again, at the last election, from dry to damp, or maybe it was from wet to damp.2002, Dana Stabenow, A Fine and Bitter Snow, →ISBN, page 32:
  • Unceasing, soaking rain was falling; the very lamps seemed obscured by the damp upon the glass, and their light reached but to a little distance from the posts.1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 10, in Mary Barton:
  • We sometimes kept our Wellingtons on the whole day, leaving trails of mud and damp through the rooms.2005, Kazuo Ishiguro, chapter 10, in Never Let Me Go, London: Faber, published 2010, page 115:
  • Summer was ending: in the daytime singing insects hung in every sunbeam; vegetation was heavy nightly with globes of dew; and after showers creeping damps and twilight chills came up from the hollows.1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter XL, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y....

All 40 example sentences with damp

Synonyms of damp

All synonyms of damp

Forms of damp

Adjective
comparativedamper
superlativedampest
Noun
pluraldamps
pluralDAMPs
Verb
third-person singular presentdamps
present participledamping
past participledamped
pastdamped

Origin of damp

From Middle English dampen (“to stifle; suffocate”), from Old English damp, from Proto-Germanic *dampaz. Akin to Low German damp, Dutch damp, and German Dampf (“vapor, steam, fog”), Icelandic dampi, Swedish damm (“dust”), and to German dampf imperative of dimpfen (“to smoke”). Also Middle English dampen (“to extinguish, choke, suffocate”).

* As an English surname, from the adjective damp. * As a north/Low German and Danish surname, from places with the name Damp, such as Damp in Schleswig-Holstein, possibly from an old onomatopoeic verb meaning "to fall down," referring to falling watercourse of the Bökenau / Schwastrumer Au near the estate. Compare Danish dumpe and English dump.

Words formed from damp

Phrases with damp

Words that rhyme with damp

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about damp

What does damp mean?
Damp means in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.
What is damp in Hindi?
Damp in Hindi is आर्द्र (ārdra). See Damp meaning in Hindi.
How do you use damp in a sentence?
The lawn was still damp so we decided not to sit down.
What part of speech is damp?
Damp can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce damp?
Damp is pronounced /ˈdæmp/.

Words near damp in the dictionary

  1. damouritization
  2. damouritizations
  3. Damours
  4. damozel
  5. damozels
  6. damp
  7. damp course
  8. damp courses
  9. damp down
  10. damp haze
  11. damp hazes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: damp (page history and authors); Damp (page history and authors); DAMP (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-damp.ogg.

Cite this entry: “damp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/damp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.