Humour that is presented in a matter of fact way, as it weren't even an attempt to be funny, can be described as dry. And any sort of writing or information can be dry if it's overly factual in nature.
As far as I know, though, no one uses wet to describe obvious humour or information with lots of flourishes.
What would be the right word for the opposite of "dry" in these metaphorical senses?
Or, to ask another way, what one word would you place in these sentences:
His joke definitely wasn't dry, it was downright _____________!
I thought her lecture would be dry, but it was surprisingly ____________.
When was dry first used in this sense, and was wet ever used as it's opposite metaphor?
And if I dare ask a "why" question, is there a reason dry is used in this metaphorical sense without having pulled along the obvious antonym?
Best Answer
In this case, dry is not the opposite of wet, but it means bare, and lacking adornment, such as a dry report.
Etymonline, the online etymology dictionary, indicates the word has been used to describe comedy for more than 500 years!
As for antonyms, instead of a dry lecture, you might sit through a lively one. When applied to jokes, a joke might be farcical, or whimsical; a comedy routine might be laced with slapstick. One website I found listed 20 distinct forms of humor; others in that list which seem "opposite" of dry include hyperbolic, sophomoric, screwball, but probably not mordant.