Wetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface by displacing another substance or material - either a gas, or other liquid not miscible with the wetting liquid - due to the differential strength of intermolecular interactions with the surface.
The degree of wetting, or wettability, is dependent on the force balance between adhesive and cohesive forces, occurring when liquid and solid make contact in the presence of another physical phase. As such, wetting is of importance to bonding and adherence of substances in different phases.