dry
Americanadjective
-
free from moisture or excess moisture; not moist; not wet.
a dry towel; dry air.
- Antonyms:
- wet
-
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.
-
not now containing or yielding water or other liquid; depleted or empty of liquid.
The well is dry.
-
not yielding milk.
a dry cow.
-
free from tears.
dry eyes.
-
drained or evaporated away.
a dry river.
-
desiring drink; thirsty.
He was so dry he could hardly speak.
-
causing thirst.
dry work.
-
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.
-
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.
-
(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.
-
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.
-
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
-
drynessnoun
-
overdrynessnoun
-
redryverb
-
predryverb (used with object)
-
underdryverb (used with object)
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dryableadjective
-
overdryadjective
-
ultradryadjective
-
undryadjective
-
undryableadjective
-
drylyadverb
-
overdrylyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
drysimple
-
driessimple
-
have driedperfect
-
has driedperfect
-
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:
All she knows is soon the lights will go out, the sockets will lose power, the wi-fi will drop, and the taps will run dry.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026
Worried that orders would dry up, Krinsky went on LinkedIn late one night and asked if anyone knew of an American factory for sale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
Ivory Coast's public meteorology body, Sodexam, said it estimated that the climate episode would lead to lower rainfall, higher temperatures and a longer dry season in the west African country.
From Barron's ● Nov. 10, 2026
Saturday, with the National Weather Service cautioning that hot, dry Santa Ana winds and higher-than-normal temperatures could cause blazes to spread rapidly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2026
I smiled as broadly as I could, and I joined in the breakfast conversation, and I swallowed down my dark thoughts with my dry toast, hoping that neither would choke me.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
“Everybody is trying to raise money for their build-outs before the liquidity dries up,” said Ben Connard, chief investment officer of Carnegie Investment Counsel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
And the Hawk fire is the latest example of the growing threat of destructive urban conflagrations in these zones as the planet warms, vegetation dries out and wildfires become more destructive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
It also dries out soils, deepening drought where El Nino brings drought.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
This air also dries out, meaning no clouds can form, so strong sunshine is able to heat the ground even further.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
“Hey, Mom,” I said matter-of-factly with the binoculars still pressed against my face, “how come blood on a sword dries red, and blood on cloth dries brown? How come?”
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
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
They do not realize that the drys can still keep on voting dry, with intense conviction, and great battle cries, and still have a sense of humor.
From The Art of the Moving Picture by Vachel Lindsay
The agency’s own words are drier: “BLS could not collect October 2025 reference-period survey data.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 11, 2026
For Perez-Charlton, the "concerning thing would be if this event ends up bringing the typical drier weather pattern and lack of rain" associated with a sudden stratospheric warming over the coming months.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Sunday is due to be a drier day but still very windy with some sunshine and occasional passing showers.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
In North America, El Niño can push winter storms farther south, bringing wetter winters to the southern U.S. and warmer, drier conditions to the north.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The grass was wet and thick near the stream and they made their way up the opposite slope, looking for drier ground.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
A country house and farming estate in one of England's driest and most nature-depleted areas has an "abundance" of wildlife with more than 5,000 species recorded, the National Trust has said.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Precipitation was below average, ranking in the driest third on record for both August and for the June-August period, and drought covered nearly 60 percent of the contiguous US by September 1.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
With this summer being the hottest and one of the driest on record, lakes and rivers across the country have been running low.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
July’s 6.5 millimeters of rain in England, about 0.25 inches, was the lowest since records began in 1836 and less than half the next driest July—in 1911.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The people said that even in the driest years nobody could ever remember a time when the spring had dried up.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
The race started on a wet track, which dried progressively.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
The announcement comes after demand for what was once touted as what would be the company’s “best ever” product has dried up in recent years.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
"The unseasonal heat has dried out the banks of the streams and the dampest valleys," he said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
After more than a decade as a headhunter, work has dried up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
Mama set a plate in the rack to be dried, and then she just stood there.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
By the time it was restarted, the track was drying.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
The fires have been driven in part by drought linked to a strong El Nino phenomenon, but are also caused by longstanding deforestation and drying of peatland, experts say.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
But this mobility has collapsed, even as money for social services is drying up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Over roughly the next year, the rover will continue traveling through rock layers containing abundant sulfates and carbonates, minerals that provide evidence of ancient drying conditions on Mars.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
His hair and skin were damp, and he was drying himself with a towel.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
