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clamminess

clamminess

6.5
A damp, sticky feeling on the skin that is unpleasant
  • noun
  • /ˈklæmɪnəs/
translation icon : humedad
  • Stage one was characterized by "a perceptible clamminess of the skin and an acid gas," while stage two was marked by "an alkalescent vapour attended with an offensive odour."
  • felt the clamminess

Examples

  • The air suddenly rouses and freshens, turning its cool lining outward, with the clamminess of the storm in its folds.

    Academic text (1999)
  • (Why do you suppose one feels the clamminess of clothes more miserably when the rain has stopped than while it is raining?)

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The excitement he had felt in the morning turned to a kind of clamminess on his skin.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • It wasn't an icy cold so much as the clamminess of a corpse.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Living either on the street or in the bin, he rarely saw himself in anything besides window glass or bumper chrome, but even if Harper's world had been filled with highly polished mirrors, his clamminess would have registered with himself as a glow.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The bread which is made thereof is mainly white, without bran; it is hard and dry as biscuit is, and has in it no clamminess at all; for which cause it is of hard digestion and yields to the body little or no nourishment.

    Academic text (1992)
  • After running in the humid weather, I was overwhelmed by a clamminess on my skin that made me feel uncomfortable.

  • The clamminess of his sweaty palms was evident when he reached out to shake hands.

  • Despite the air conditioning, a clamminess settled on my skin after being outside in the rain.

Synonyms

moisture
vsclamminess
107 1.0

A small amount of water on or in something that makes it slightly wet

refers to an unpleasant, sticky skin sensation rather than tiny liquid amounts
moistness
vsclamminess
1 1.1

A slight wetness on a surface or in the air

adds sticky and unpleasant skin feeling beyond mere slight dampness
dankness
vsclamminess
1 6.1

A wet, cold feeling that makes a place unpleasant

focuses on a damp, sticky skin sensation rather than being cold
sliminess
vsclamminess
5.4

A wet, slippery feeling that also describes people or actions that seem dishonest

is a damp, sticky skin sensation rather than viscous slipperiness

Antonyms

8 1.0

Lack of water or wetness in something

How Damp

wetness
9 1.0
clamminess
6.5
dampness
8 1.0
moisture
107 1.0

Surface Forms

clamminess singular
clamminesses plural

Morphology

clamminess = clammy (transparent) = clammy + ness

Formed by adding the nominalizing suffix '-ness' to the adjective 'clammy', yielding the state or quality 'the state of being clammy', which is directly inferable.

Etymology

The word clamminess comes from an old root clamm- meaning 'to cling' or 'to stick', so a helpful way to remember it is to think of the verb cling. So, clamminess describes the unpleasant, damp, sticky feeling on skin or in the air.