Standard Lemma guide

dampness

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D AE1 M P N IH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Moderate humidity; moisture; moistness; the state or quality of being damp.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The degree to which something is damp or moist.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • The dampness in the writing paper caused the ink to spread and smudge.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a slight wetness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: damp, moistness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: wetness

Narrower terms: dankness, clamminess, rawness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English damp Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English dampness From damp + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: vochtigheid — moderate humidity
  • Finnish: kosteus — moderate humidity
  • French: moiteur — moderate humidity
  • Galician: lentura — moderate humidity
  • Galician: humidade — moderate humidity
  • Hindi: आर्द्रता (ārdratā) — moderate humidity
  • Hindi: नमी (namī) — moderate humidity
  • Central Kurdish: نم (nim) — moderate humidity
  • Central Kurdish: شێ (şê) — moderate humidity
  • Latvian: mitrums — moderate humidity
  • Latvian: miklums — moderate humidity
  • Latvian: valgums — moderate humidity
  • Latvian: valganums — moderate humidity
  • Marathi: आर्द्रता (ārdratā) — moderate humidity
  • Marathi: दमटपणा (damṭapṇā) — moderate humidity
  • Marathi: ओलावा (olāvā) — moderate humidity
  • Persian: زغار (zaġâr) — moderate humidity
  • Romanian: umezeală — moderate humidity
  • Russian: вла́жность (vlážnostʹ) — moderate humidity
  • Russian: сы́рость (sýrostʹ) — moderate humidity
  • Swedish: fuktighet — moderate humidity
  • Swedish: fukt — moderate humidity
  • Dutch: vochtigheid — degree to which something is damp
  • Dutch: vochtigheidsgraad — degree to which something is damp
  • Finnish: kosteus — degree to which something is damp
  • Hindi: आर्द्रता (ārdratā) — degree to which something is damp
  • Marathi: आर्द्रता (ārdratā) — degree to which something is damp
  • Marathi: दमटपणा (damṭapṇā) — degree to which something is damp
  • Marathi: ओलावा (olāvā) — degree to which something is damp
  • Russian: вла́жность (vlážnostʹ) — degree to which something is damp
  • Swedish: fuktighet — degree to which something is damp
  • Swedish: fuktighetsgrad — degree to which something is damp