Final answer:
A substance that lacks moisture is considered dry, while one with excess water is referred to as wet. The moisture condition of soil can range from saturated to permanent wilting point, and it's evaluated in terms of water potential rather than just water content.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a substance is without adequate moisture or contains too much water, its condition can be described using terms relative to its normal state. For substances or soils that lack sufficient moisture, they are considered dry. Conversely, if they have more water than necessary, they are referred to as wet. It is important to understand that the terms dry and wet are often specific to the context and matter at hand. In the case of soil, moisture levels can range from saturated, where all the pore spaces are filled with water, to a permanent wilting point, where the moisture level is too low for plants to survive. Soil moisture is typically not determined by the water content alone but by the water potential, which takes into account the energy required to extract water from the soil.