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Glite Dictionary
mugginess

mugginess

4.2
Air that is warm and humid and feels uncomfortable
  • noun
  • /ˈmʌɡiˌnəs/
translation icon : bochorno
  • Despite the mugginess of the day, they continued their hike through the forest.

Examples

  • The mugginess of the summer afternoon made it hard to enjoy the picnic.

  • The mugginess of the day outside came up and wrapped around her.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The mugginess seemed rather half-hearted, as if it were sick of maintaining itself and just wanted to go home and go to bed.

    Blog text (25)

  • I rolled the windows down, and the back seat filled with mugginess, a thick and heavy air I hadn't really noticed before.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • When Sidney exited the airport into the mugginess of the New Orleans night, she did not notice the black sedan with the tinted windows parked across the narrow roadway used to pick up or drop off passengers.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • We could feel the mugginess in the air as we walked outside into the heat.

Synonyms

sultriness
vsmugginess
6.4

Hot, humid weather that makes you feel tired and uncomfortable

is less intense meaning uncomfortably warm and humid rather than oppressive
humidness
vsmugginess
2.9

Water in the air that makes it feel wet

emphasizes both warmth and humidity rather than moisture alone

Antonyms

dryness
8 1.0

Lack of water or wetness in something

How Humid

mugginess
4.2
humidity
82 2.7
dampness
8 1.0

Surface Forms

mugginess singular
mugginesses plural

Morphology

mugginess = muggy (transparent) = muggy + ness

The noun is a regular nominalization of the adjective 'muggy' with the productive suffix '-ness', preserving the adjectival meaning.

Etymology

Mugginess comes from muggy, which likely comes from mug meaning 'cup' or from an old word for a 'stuffy' place, though the exact origin is unclear. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine air trapped in a mug, warm and heavy, so mugginess means 'uncomfortably warm and humid'.