dry
Americanadjective
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free from moisture or excess moisture; not moist; not wet.
a dry towel; dry air.
- Antonyms:
- wet
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having or characterized by little or no rain.
a dry climate; the dry season.
-
characterized by absence, deficiency, or failure of natural or ordinary moisture.
-
not under, in, or on water.
It was good to be on dry land.
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not now containing or yielding water or other liquid; depleted or empty of liquid.
The well is dry.
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not yielding milk.
a dry cow.
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free from tears.
dry eyes.
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drained or evaporated away.
a dry river.
-
desiring drink; thirsty.
He was so dry he could hardly speak.
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causing thirst.
dry work.
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served or eaten without butter, jam, etc..
dry toast.
-
(of cooked food) lacking enough moisture or juice to be satisfying or succulent.
-
(of bread and bakery products) stale.
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of or relating to nonliquid substances or commodities.
dry measure; dry provisions.
-
(of wines) not sweet.
-
(of a cocktail)
-
made with dry vermouth.
a dry Manhattan.
-
made with relatively little dry vermouth.
a dry martini.
-
-
characterized by or favoring prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors for use in beverages.
a dry state.
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(of British biscuits) not sweet.
-
plain; bald; unadorned.
dry facts.
-
dull; uninteresting.
a dry subject.
- Antonyms:
- interesting
-
expressed in a straight-faced, matter-of-fact way.
dry humor.
-
indifferent; cold; unemotional.
a dry answer.
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unproductive.
The greatest of artists have dry years.
-
(of lumber) fully seasoned.
-
Building Trades.
-
(of masonry construction) built without fresh mortar or cement.
-
(of a wall, ceiling, etc., in an interior) finished without the use of fresh plaster.
-
-
Ceramics.
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insufficiently glazed.
-
Art. hard and formal in outline, or lacking mellowness and warmth in color.
verb (used with object)
-
dries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dried,
past participle, past
-
drying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
dries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dried,
past participle, past
-
drying
present participle
noun
-
drys,
plural
-
dries
plural
-
a prohibitionist.
-
a dry place, area, or region.
verb phrase
-
dry out
-
to make or become completely dry.
-
to undergo or cause to undergo detoxification from consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol.
-
-
dry up
-
to make or become completely dry.
-
to cease to exist; evaporate.
-
Informal. to stop talking.
-
(in acting) to forget one's lines or part.
-
idioms
adjective
-
lacking moisture; not damp or wet
-
having little or no rainfall
-
not in or under water
dry land
-
having the water drained away or evaporated
a dry river
-
not providing milk
a dry cow
-
(of the eyes) free from tears
-
-
informal in need of a drink; thirsty
-
causing thirst
dry work
-
-
eaten without butter, jam, etc
dry toast
-
(of a wine, cider, etc) not sweet
-
pathol not accompanied by or producing a mucous or watery discharge
a dry cough
-
consisting of solid as opposed to liquid substances or commodities
-
without adornment; plain
dry facts
-
lacking interest or stimulation
a dry book
-
lacking warmth or emotion; cold
a dry greeting
-
(of wit or humour) shrewd and keen in an impersonal, sarcastic, or laconic way
-
opposed to or prohibiting the sale of alcoholic liquor for human consumption
a dry area
-
(of a ewe) without a lamb after the mating season
-
electronics (of a soldered electrical joint) imperfect because the solder has not adhered to the metal, thus reducing conductance
verb
-
to make or become dry or free from moisture
-
(tr) to preserve (meat, vegetables, fruit, etc) by removing the moisture
noun
-
informal a Conservative politician who is considered to be a hard-liner Compare wet
-
informal the dry season
-
an informal word for prohibitionist
Synonym Usage
Dry, arid both mean without moisture. Dry is the general word indicating absence of water or freedom from moisture: a dry well; dry clothes. Arid suggests great or intense dryness in a region or climate, especially such as results in bareness or in barrenness: arid tracts of desert. See evaporate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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drynessnoun
-
overdrynessnoun
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redryverb
-
predryverb (used with object)
-
underdryverb (used with object)
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dryableadjective
-
overdryadjective
-
ultradryadjective
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undryadjective
-
undryableadjective
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drylyadverb
-
overdrylyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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drysimple
-
driessimple
-
have driedperfect
-
has driedperfect
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am dryingprogressive
-
are dryingprogressive
-
is dryingprogressive
-
have been dryingperfect progressive
-
has been dryingperfect progressive
Past
-
driedsimple
-
had driedperfect
-
was dryingprogressive
-
were dryingprogressive
-
had been dryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dry
First recorded before 900; Middle English drie, Old English drȳge; akin to Dutch droog, German trocken; see drought
Explanation
Things that are dry lack moisture. A desert or a dessert can be dry. If your eyes are dry, you’ve stopped crying. It’s also a flavor that means the opposite of sweet. The Sahara Desert and crumbly chocolate cake are both dry. Dry is also a verb — when you paint your kitchen, you have to wait for the first coat to dry before you can add another. If someone says you have a dry sense of humor, they mean that you have a subtle style, keeping a straight face even when you say something outrageous.
Vocabulary lists containing dry
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
On a busy road across from a dry cleaner, the storefront entrance blends into the real tire shop it’s attached to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Families who have lived in Big Sur for generations have come to expect their share of curveballs, particularly as climate change has accelerated rapid swings between intensely wet and dangerously dry weather.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
A huge blaze near Stourbridge Golf Course saw about 100 firefighters battling the fire which spread rapidly through dry grass and woodland, setting alight six homes.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
With climate change driving new heat records and longer dry spells in Europe and beyond, scientists warn that the problem will intensify in coming years.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
It was tiresome wearing the same dress every day that I worked, starching up the collar and dab-washing the armpits every night so it would be dry by the next morning.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
But they are packaged into different tranches in order of who will get repaid first if the money dries up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
As the liquid dries, the suspended particles inside can gather into uneven patterns.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
In many parts of the island, the soil’s high clay content causes deep fractures to form as it dries.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
"The sweat dries," she said, watching the blades turn, "but these gusts are hard for an old body to bear."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
She dries her hands, sighs, and says, “No.”
From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
That really divided Whigs between drys and wets.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2017
So who are the other Washington VIPs queuing up for blow drys, yoga, personal training and makeup application in the comfort of their open concept living rooms?
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2015
And while profits from cuts, colouring and blow drys have remained static, in 2012 the salon's hair extension business has grown 60% year on year.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2012
But she nonetheless tells her very fellow drys that she can secure Nucky’s help in doing away with these neighborhood stashes.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2010
The "wets" obsessed by the idea that woman suffrage is "next door to prohibition" used their entire machinery to defeat the amendments, while the "drys" regarded the amendments as distinctly separate questions.
From Woman Suffrage By Federal Constitutional Amendment by Carrie Chapman Catt
The UK is now seeing the kind of hotter, drier summers climate scientists have long projected, part of a global pattern of heat.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
"Our hormones affect our skin, they affect our collagen, so a lot of people find their skin becomes drier, their complexion not so bright, they might have acne and spots," Newson explains.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Every time we burn fossil fuels, it adds more chemicals to the atmosphere that trap more heat, creating a positive feedback loop that makes everything hotter and drier.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
While forecasts point to rain around the Mediterranean, other regions can expect “severely drier than average conditions” until September, it said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
During the rest of the year, the climate is drier, and farmers plant and tend their milpas on the alluvial soil.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
England and Wales recorded their driest July since records began 190 years ago, according to the Met Office, while large parts of England and all of Wales have already been officially declared in drought.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Veg farmers across the country are warning of a shortage of produce after the driest July for 190 years.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Of all the dams I have built and of all the dams I have ever seen, it was the driest dam of its size I ever saw in my life.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
In the southern part of England, July was the driest month ever recorded, dating back to 1836, with just 1.9 mm of rainfall, or three percent of the average figure, the Met Office said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
In terms of precipitation, she observes, Antarctica “is the driest large area on Earth, drier overall than any large desert.”
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Inside there are tiny cauliflowers, brown and dried up.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
As late as the 1800s, most commodities were cultivated: Cinnamon bark was peeled and rolled into quills, opium juiced from poppies, and tea leaves dried out in the sun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Later, repeated heat waves and a period of drought dried out that vegetation, turning it into abundant fuel.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
He and his detectives at first gave little regard to the dried blood on the front porch, said people familiar with the investigation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Torak found his last roll of dried deer meat and shared it between the three of them.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
"The rivers are drying up. Ships cannot operate. Yet the new transport minister comes up with nothing more than deeper shipping channels and different types of vessels," Banaszak told the Rheinische Post daily.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Banks and companies outside the U.S. that had borrowed heavily in dollars found that funding drying up and turned to their own central banks for help.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Eisenman adds that fans can cause more water to evaporate from your skin in dry conditions such as L.A., further drying you out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Cooking and drying clothes indoors can also increase humidity, making it harder for sweat to evaporate.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
I stay up while the house is quiet, drying clothes by the fire and sewing a rip in Helena’s skirt where I didn’t sew it very well in the first place.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
