Clammy

//ˈklæmi// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Cold and damp, usually referring to hands or palms.

    "His hands were clammy from fright."

  2. 2
    The quality of normal skin signs, epidermis that is neither diaphoretic nor dry.
Adjective
  1. 1
    unpleasantly cool and humid wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
wetadhesiveamylaceousbathed in sweatbeaded with sweatclabbered

Antonyms

All antonyms
muggy

Example

More examples

"Awed by the vision and the voice divine / ('twas no mere dream; their very looks I knew, / I saw the fillets round their temples twine, / and clammy sweat did all my limbs bedew) / forthwith, upstarting, from the couch I flew, / and hands and voice together raised in prayer, / and wine unmixt upon the altars threw. / This done, to old Anchises I repair, / pleased with the rites fulfilled, and all the tale declare."

Etymology

From Middle English clam (“viscous, sticky; slimy”) + -y, from Old English clǣman (“to smear, bedaub”). Compare German klamm (“clammy”) and klemmen (“to be stuck, stick”). See also clam.

Related phrases

clammy goosefootskin signs

More for "clammy"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.