💧 With moisture 😢 Weakly or sadly

wetly

1 7.8

In a weak or overly emotional way that does not convince

adverb
/ˈwɛtli/

: sentimentalmente

She gazed wetly at the old photographs, remembering the good times they had shared.
grinned wetly

Examples

Her voice clicked wetly in her throat.

Fiction book (1991)
The corpse grinned wetly, showing too many teeth.

Fiction book (2000)
Fernest sat up in the trough, hay all stuck in his hair, and he started coughing deeply and wetly.

Fiction book (1995)
The children stared wetly at the sad movie scene, their eyes glistening with tears.
He spoke wetly about his regrets, his voice trembling with emotion.

Synonyms

lamely

vswetly

5 5.6

In a weak way that does not seem believable

is more sentimental and emotional rather than only unconvincing

drippily

vswetly

9.2

In a way that is too emotional and shows too much feeling

is sentimental but also includes weak or ineffectual tone

mushily

vswetly

7.4

In a very emotional and sweet way

is similar but also can mean weak or ineffective rather than just emotional

dewily

vswetly

9.9

In a way that looks like someone has wet eyes because they feel moved

is broader covering sentiment or weak ineffectual manner not only tears

Antonyms

dryly

18 6.1

In a calm, serious way that seems slightly funny

Surface Forms

wetly positive

Morphology

wetly = wet (semi-transparent) = wet + ly

Formally derived by '-ly' but the adverbial sense relies on an informal/figurative extension of 'wet' to mean 'sentimental' or 'weak', so the meaning is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Wetly can also mean 'in a weak or overly sentimental way'. A helpful way to remember this is to think of the parts wet and -ly and imagine a soaked cloth that is limp and not strong, so a 'wet' smile or answer feels soft and not convincing.