powdery

[ pou-duh-ree ]

adjective

1. consisting of or resembling powder:

   powdery sand; powdery clouds.

2. easily reduced to powder:

   powdery plaster.

3. sprinkled or covered with or as with powder:

   flowers powdery with pollen.

Word History and Origins

Origin of powdery¹

First recorded in 1400–50, powdery is from the late Middle English word powdry. See powder ¹, -y ¹

Example Sentences

Suspicious, the officers unzipped the suitcase’s lining and found a stack of 13 white T-shirts “that were wet and appeared to be caked with a white powdery substance,” according to the affidavit.

From Los Angeles Times

The first responders found four men in a grassy area in front of the building and a white powdery substance nearby.

From Los Angeles Times

With its its powdery pastel colors, zigzag metal canopies, space-age scoreboard and verdant terraces filled with UFO-shaped urns, Dodger Stadium lived up to the hype.

From Los Angeles Times

Over the last two years, I’ve drenched the bathroom in glossy navy, bisected an office with teal and mustard, painted the stairwell a bright, matte powdery pink.

From Los Angeles Times

The more peripheral details vary, but the core remains strikingly consistent — an officer saw something that looked like a drug, or perhaps dusted some powdery grains off of their uniform.

From Salon

Related Words

• chalky
• crumbly
• dusty
• grainy
• gravelly