EssenceJustin Hyde
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"And her faire deawy eies with kisses deare Shee ofte did bathe" (Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene). "I would these dewy teares were from the ground" (William Shakespeare, Richard III). "Till dewie sleep Oppress'd them" (John Milton, Paradise Lost). "Strengthen me, enlighten me … Thou dewy dawn of memory" (Alfred Tennyson, "Ode to Memory"). Such lines exemplify how the greats have poetically extended the characteristics of dewy grass to misty or crying eyes, as well as to things, like sleep, that affect people gently like forming dew, or to things, like memory, that gradually vanish like a morning's dew. In recent times, the adjective has often been used to describe the luminous complexions of models and starlets—an extension of the "suggestive of dew" meaning. It was not until the 20th century that people began to connect newly formed, undisturbed dew with freshness or purity and, in turn, with innocence and unsophistication.
Synonyms of dewy
Adjective
Examples of dewy in a Sentence
Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
Korean makeup artists love it for its ultra-dewy finish onstage, on camera, and in real life.
—Sarah Y. Wu, Glamour, 8 June 2026
While a basic night cream can be enough to keep younger skin looking plump, dewy, and glowing, things change over time.
—Jenny Berg, InStyle, 4 June 2026
In The Maids, for instance, Williams has applied a dewy contemporary sheen to Genet’s grungy French cruelty.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 27 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Dewy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dewy. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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