Word Confusion: Wet versus Whet

Plural for the noun: wets [British] Gerund: wetting

Third person present verb: wets
Past tense or past participle: wet, wetted
Present participle: wetting

Plural for the noun: whets
Gerund: whetting

Third person present verb: whets
Past tense or past participle: whetted
Present participle: whetting

• [Of the weather] Rainy
• Moistened or dampened with rain
• [Of paint, ink, plaster, or a similar substance] Not yet having dried or hardened
• [Of a baby or young child] Having urinated in its diaper or underwear
• Involving the use of water or liquid
• [Nautical; of a ship] Liable to take in water over her bows or sides

Characterized by the presence or use of water or other liquid

Characterized by frequent rain, mist, etc.

Laden with a comparatively high percent of moisture or vapor, especially water vapor

[British; informal] Showing a lack of forcefulness or strength of character

• Feeble

[Informal; of a country or region or of its legislation] Allowing the sale of alcoholic beverages

• [Of a person] Addicted to alcohol
• [Informal] Intoxicated

Using water or done under or in water, as certain chemical, mining, and manufacturing processes

[Slang] A woman’s vagina moist from sexual arousal

Noun:
Liquid that makes something damp

• Moisture
• [the wet] Rainy weather
• Damp weather

[British; informal; count noun] A drink

[British; informal] A person lacking forcefulness or strength of character

[British; politics] Conservative with liberal tendencies, especially as regarded by right-wing Conservatives

[US] A person in favor of allowing the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages

Verb, transitive:
Cover or touch with liquid

• [Dialect] Infuse tea by pouring on boiling water
• [Sometimes followed by through or down] Moisten or soak
• [Especially of a baby or young child] Urinate in or on
• [wet oneself] Urinate involuntarily

[General engineering] The act of whetting

[Chiefly Southern US] A spell of work

[Chiefly Southern US] A while

Verb, transitive:
Sharpen the blade of a tool or weapon by grinding or friction

• Excite or stimulate someone’s desire, interest, or appetite

To make keen or eager

• Stimulate

It was a wet, windy evening.

Wet streets make driving hazardous.

Don’t touch that! It’s still wet.

Marge, the baby wet her diaper again.

Today we’ll learn the wet methods of photography.

They thought the cadets were a bit wet.

Did you check to see if this is a wet county?

They came across as the most liberal or wet members of the government.

Our program depends on our willingness to help other alcoholics, both wet and dry.

Grinding is usually done in tumbling mills, wet or dry, with as little production of fine particles as possible.

Unfortunately, it was the wet season, and it would take forever for anything to dry.

There was a wet breeze from the west.

They’d had a wet night out at the pub.

God, he thought, she’s so wet.

Noun:
I could feel the wet of his tears.

The race was held in the wet.

I took a wet from my bottle.

There are sorts who look like gangsters and sorts who look like wets.

Wet counties are not looking to go dry.

The wet from the earth had made the basement unlivable.

Stay out of the wet as much as possible.

Verb, transitive:
He wet a finger and flicked through the pages.

Wet your hands before soaping them.

She said she’d wet the tea immediately because they must be parched.

The child wet the bed.

The dog had wet the carpet.

Seeing the pistol held on him, he wet himself.

Let’s go on in and wet our whistles.

I’ll take another whet at it afore long, and fill up the gaps.

That girl can talk a whet.

Verb, transitive:
She took out her dagger and began to whet its blade in even, rhythmic strokes.

Here’s an extract to whet your appetite.

The selection of quotations may whet your curiosity to investigate the source material.

She was curious as a cat, a closed door merely whetted her curiosity.

The smell of bacon frying whetted my appetite.

The slight delay whetted his eagerness to read what Victoria had to tell.