sultry
pronunciation
How to pronounce sultry in British English:
UK [ˈsʌltri]
How to pronounce sultry in American English:
US [ˈsʌltri]
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- Adjective:
- sexually exciting or gratifying
- characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
- burning hot; extremely and unpleasantly hot
Word Origin
- sultry (adj.)
- 1590s, "oppressively hot, close and moist" (of weather), ultimately from swelter + alteration of -y (2), either as a contraction of sweltry or from obsolete verb sulter "to swelter" (1580s), alteration of swelter. Figurative sense of "hot with lust" is attested from 1704; of women, "lascivious, sensual, arousing desire" it is recorded from 1940. Related: Sultriness.
Example
- 1. On a sultry july evening , the first night of ramadan , qaddafi 's security forces came for her .
- 2. It could be some sexy lingerie , a sultry summer dress or your favorite skinny jeans .
- 3. During the sultry afternoons , we took refuge by the fan-shaped pool , gazing at the thunderclouds rolling in with only the rasping of cicadas interrupting the silence .
- 4. With his loping runner 's gait , roy herron bounds from house to house on a sultry september evening , introducing himself as the democratic candidate for the open seat in tennessee 's 8th congressional district .
- 5. The city of hong kong may rub shoulders with new york and london , but its feet still dangle in the brackish water of a sultry , southern port .