dry

1. adjective

1)

the dry desert

Syn:

arid, parched, droughty, scorched, baked; waterless, moistureless, rainless; dehydrated, desiccated, thirsty, bone dry

Ant:

wet

2)

dry leaves

Syn:

parched, dried, withered, shriveled, wilted, wizened; crisp, crispy, brittle; dehydrated, desiccated

Ant:

fresh

3)

the rolls were dry

Syn:

hard, stale, old, past its best

Ant:

moist, fresh

4)

a dry well

Syn:

waterless, empty

5)

I'm really dry

Syn:

thirsty, dehydrated; informal parched, gasping

6)

it was dry work

Syn:

thirsty, thirst-making; hot; strenuous, arduous

7)

dry toast

Syn:

unbuttered, butterless, plain

8)

the dry facts

Syn:

bare, simple, basic, fundamental, stark, bald, hard, straightforward

Ant:

embellished

9)

a dry debate

Syn:

dull, uninteresting, boring, unexciting, tedious, tiresome, wearisome, dreary, monotonous; unimaginative, sterile, flat, bland, lackluster, stodgy, prosaic, humdrum, mundane; informal deadly

Ant:

lively, interesting

10)

a dry sense of humor

Syn:

wry, subtle, laconic, sharp; ironic, sardonic, sarcastic, cynical; satirical, mocking, droll; informal waggish

11)

a dry response to his cordial advance

Syn:

unemotional, indifferent, impassive, cool, cold, emotionless; reserved, restrained, impersonal, formal, stiff, wooden

Ant:

emotional, expressive

12)

this is a dry state

Syn:

teetotal, prohibitionist, alcohol-free, nondrinking, abstinent, sober; informal on the wagon

13)

dry white wine

Syn:

crisp, sharp, piquant, tart, bitter

Ant:

sweet

2. verb

1)

the sun dried the ground

Syn:

parch, scorch, bake; dehydrate, desiccate, dehumidify

Ant:

moisten

2)

dry the leaves completely

Syn:

dehydrate, desiccate; wither, shrivel

Ant:

moisten

3)

he dried the spills with a paper towel

Syn:

towel, rub; mop up, blot up, soak up, absorb

4)

she dried her eyes

Syn:

wipe, rub, dab

5)

methods of drying meat

Syn:

desiccate, dehydrate; preserve, cure, smoke

•

- dry out

- dry up

••

dry, arid, dehydrated, dessicated, parched, sere

Almost anything lacking in moisture (in relative terms) — whether it's a piece of bread, the basement of a house, or the state of Arizona — may be described as dry, a word that also connotes a lack of life or spirit (a dry lecture on cell division). Arid, on the other hand, applies to places or things that have been deprived of moisture and are therefore extremely or abnormally dry (one side of the island was arid); it is most commonly used to describe a desertlike region or climate that is lifeless or barren. Desiccated is used as a technical term for something from which moisture has been removed, and in general use it suggests lifelessness, although it is applied very often to people who have lost their vitality (a desiccated old woman who never left her house) or to animal and vegetable products that have been completely deprived of their vital juices (desiccated oranges hanging limply from the tree). Dehydrated is very close in meaning to desiccated and is often the preferred adjective when describing foods from which the moisture has been extracted (they lived on dehydrated fruit). Dehydrated may also refer to an unwanted loss of moisture (the virus had left him seriously dehydrated), as may the less formal term parched, which refers to an undesirable or uncomfortable lack of water in either a human being or a place (parched with thirst; the parched landscape). Sere is associated primarily with places and means dry or arid (a harsh, sere land where few inhabitants could survive).