SULTRY (sultrier, sultriest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: sultrier    , sultriest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sultry mean? 

• SULTRY (adjective)
  The adjective SULTRY has 2 senses:

1. sexually exciting or gratifying

2. characterized by oppressive heat and humidity

  Familiarity information: SULTRY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SULTRY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sexually exciting or gratifying

Synonyms:

sensual; sultry

Context example:

a sultry dance

Similar:

hot (extended meanings; especially of psychological heat; marked by intensity or vehemence especially of passion or enthusiasm)

Derivation:

sultriness (the quality of expressing or arousing sexual desire)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characterized by oppressive heat and humidity

Synonyms:

stifling; sulfurous; sulphurous; sultry

Context example:

the sulfurous atmosphere preceding a thunderstorm

Similar:

hot (used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning)

Derivation:

sultriness (oppressively hot and humid weather)

 Context examples 

The sultry heat had become unendurable.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The weather had been somewhat sultry, but not to any degree uncommon in the month of August.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Peat-cutters on Blackdown and fishers upon the Exe heard the distant throbbing rising and falling upon the sultry summer air.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One might have thought already that God’s curse hung heavy over a degenerate world, for there was an awesome hush and a feeling of vague expectancy in the sultry and stagnant air.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was sultry and oppressive, reminding me of what the old Californians term “earthquake weather.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The wind fell away entirely during the evening, and at midnight there was a dead calm, a sultry heat, and that prevailing intensity which, on the approach of thunder, affects persons of a sensitive nature.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)