mist
1 Americannoun
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a cloudlike aggregation of minute globules of water suspended in the atmosphere at or near the earth's surface, reducing visibility to a lesser degree than fog.
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a cloud of particles resembling this.
She sprayed a mist of perfume onto her handkerchief.
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something that dims, obscures, or blurs.
the mist of ignorance.
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a haze before the eyes that dims the vision.
a mist of tears.
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a suspension of a liquid in a gas.
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a drink of liquor served over cracked ice.
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a fine spray produced by a vaporizer to add moisture to the air for breathing.
verb (used without object)
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to become misty.
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to rain in very fine drops; drizzle (usually used impersonally with it as subject).
It was misting when they went out for lunch.
verb (used with object)
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to make misty.
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to spray (plants) with a finely diffused jet of water, as a means of replacing lost moisture.
abbreviation
noun
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a thin fog resulting from condensation in the air near the earth's surface
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meteorol such an atmospheric condition with a horizontal visibility of 1–2 kilometres
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a fine spray of any liquid, such as that produced by an aerosol container
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chem a colloidal suspension of a liquid in a gas
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condensed water vapour on a surface that blurs the surface
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something that causes haziness or lack of clarity, such as a film of tears
verb
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A mass of fine droplets of water in the atmosphere near or in contact with the Earth. Mist reduces visibility to not less than 1 km (0.62 mi).
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Compare fog
Usage
What else does mist mean? Content warning: this article references illicit drugs.A mist is, literally speaking, a cloud of fine liquid droplets, but in slang it can variously refer to drugs and the experience of being on them. Mist can also be an alternative spelling or misspelling of missed.
Related Words
See cloud.
Other Word Forms
- demist verb (used with object)
- mistless adjective
- undermist noun
Etymology
Origin of mist1
First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch, Low German, Swedish mist; akin to Greek omíchlē “fog,” Russian mgla “mist,” Sanskrit megha “cloud”; (verb) Middle English misten, Old English mistian, derivative of the noun
Origin of mist.2
From the Latin word mistūra
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was shrouding everything in a mist as blank as the canvas that the man was painting on.
From Literature
The 18-year-old who is about to become Britain's youngest ever Formula 1 driver is sitting on a beach in Bahrain, a Gulf mist obscuring the still-rising sun, and he's pondering a question.
From BBC
When my partner had an asthma attack, we went to the clinic and within minutes, he was breathing in albuterol mist from a nebulizer.
From Salon
Bronden unrolled the parchment and stared at it for a moment, her breath making little puffs of mist in the cold morning air.
From Literature
Rather than scrolling, people are reading of the mist that obscures Yorkshire moors and its inhabitants’ judgments.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
