Please indulge me in a bit of fantasy.
There is a bench in front of you. On it is a sign: “WET PAINT.” Having been alive for a reasonable amount of time, you understand that you are not witnessing a bench screaming the words “wet” and “paint” at you for no reason, but quite obviously a warning for anybody passing by who would otherwise wish to sit there that, were that body to take a load off on that bench, the fine linens and operatic pants with which that body is undoubtedly clothed would be ruined by the paint that has not yet dried. Why is this important? Well, it’s not, but it does hint that there’s a distinction worth making between being wet and being dry.
If water is wet, water can be dry. What is dry water? It is an oxymoron. Ergo, water—liquid, really—is the agent by which a substance is made wet.
There is one caveat: dry ice is real. Use that information as you will.
With care,
~ Grigori