dampest

adjective

slightly wet; moist: damp weather; a damp towel.

unenthusiastic; dejected; depressed: The welcoming committee gave them a rather damp reception.

noun

moisture; humidity; moist air: damp that goes through your warmest clothes.

a noxious or stifling vapor or gas, especially in a mine.

depression of spirits; dejection.

a restraining or discouraging force or factor.

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an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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verb (used with object)

to make damp; moisten.

to check or retard the energy, action, etc., of; deaden; dampen: A series of failures damped her enthusiasm.

to stifle or suffocate; extinguish: to damp a furnace.

10.

Acoustics, Music. to check or retard the action of (a vibrating string); dull; deaden.

11.

Physics. to cause a decrease in amplitude of (successive oscillations or waves).

Verb phrases

12.

damp off, to undergo damping-off.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English (in sense of def. 4); compare Middle Dutch damp, Middle High German dampf vapor, smoke

Related forms

damp·ish, adjective

damp·ish·ly, adverb

damp·ish·ness, noun

damp·ly, adverb

damp·ness, noun

Can be confused: damp, dampen, moist (see synonym study at the current entry).

Synonyms
1. dank, steamy. Damp, humid, moist mean slightly wet. Damp usually implies slight and extraneous wetness, generally undesirable or unpleasant unless the result of intention: a damp cellar; to put a damp cloth on a patient's forehead. Humid is applied to unpleasant dampness in the air: The air is oppressively humid today. Moist denotes something that is slightly wet, naturally or properly: moist ground; moist leather. 3. dankness, dampness, fog, vapor. 7. humidify. 8. slow, inhibit, restrain, moderate, abate.

Antonyms
1. dry.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To dampest

Collins

World English Dictionary

damp (dæmp)

—*adj*
1.	slightly wet, as from dew, steam, etc
2.	archaic dejected

—n
3.	slight wetness; moisture; humidity
4.	See also firedamp rank air or poisonous gas, esp in a mine
5.	a discouragement; damper
6.	archaic dejection

—vb
7.	to make slightly wet
8.	(often foll by down) to stifle or deaden: to damp one's ardour
9.	(often foll by down) to reduce the flow of air to (a fire) to make it burn more slowly or to extinguish it
10.	physics to reduce the amplitude of (an oscillation or wave)
11.	music to muffle (the sound of an instrument)

[C14: from Middle Low German damp steam; related to Old High German demphen to cause to steam]

'dampish

—*adj*

'damply

—*adv*

'dampness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

damp

early 14c., probably in O.E., but no record of it. If not, probably from M.L.G. damp; ult. from P.Gmc. *dampaz. Originally "a noxious vapor;" sense of "moisture" is first attested 1706. Damper of a piano is from 1783; of a chimney, 1788; either or both of which led to various figurative senses.

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

dAMP
deoxyadenylic acid

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damp