parched

American  

[pahrcht] / pɑrtʃt /

adjective

1. extremely or completely dried, as by heat, sun, or wind.

   Dry shrubs cover parts of this parched valley in the South Hebron Hills.

2. very thirsty.

   After each shift in the ship’s engine room, I was dead tired and totally parched, needing large amounts of water.

3. (of peas, beans, grains, etc.) slightly toasted or roasted.

   The village folk customarily have one meal a day of parched grains, so there is always a crowd around the old widow’s oven.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of parch.

Other Word Forms

• parchedly
  adverb
• parchedness
  noun
• unparched
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of parched

parch ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Something parched is excessively dry and hot, in extreme need of water, like a desert, a neglected plant, or your throat after a five-kilometer run. Some foods, like corn, beans, or grains, may be parched, or toasted, to bring out their flavor and help preserve them. American Indians parched corn to make it keep and remain edible over the winter. They taught this to the new colonists, and parched corn later became a staple of explorers like Lewis and Clark, as well as soldiers during the Civil War. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of parched corn, "It crackled and crunched, and its taste was sweet and brown."

Example Sentences

Parched farmland leads to shortages and pushes up the price of food while falling river levels make water more precious than ever.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2025

Parched lakes began to refill, and, in areas surveyed annually, wetland coverage more than doubled between October 2019 and October 2020.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 21, 2023

This story is part of the Grist series Parched, an in-depth look at how climate change-fueled drought is reshaping communities, economies, and ecosystems.

From Salon • Sep. 18, 2022

Parched soil can’t absorb the rain that comes.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2021

O that my dewy eyes might be    Parched by a vigil for her sake! p. 25But O rejected! 

From A Father of Women and other poems by Meynell, Alice Christiana Thompson

Related Words

• arid
• scorched
• thirsty
• withered