arid
[ar-id]
- being without moisture; extremely dry; parched: arid land; an arid climate.
- barren or unproductive because of lack of moisture: arid farmland.
- lacking interest or imaginativeness; sterile; jejune: an arid treatment of an exciting topic.
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Origin of arid
Synonym study
1. See dry.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
barrendustyparcheddesertbone-drydryflatdrearylifelessthirstywaterlessboringcolorlessdrabdullinsipidlacklustertediousuninspiredvapidExamples from the Web for arid
Contemporary Examples
Some parts were arid, nearly barren, others green and fertile.
His papers are voluminous but arid, nothing of the man comes through.
Anguilla is an arid, flat Caribbean island surrounded on all sides by seawater.
Media people, always on perpetual deadline, can adapt even to the most arid surroundings.
Tropical Storm Isaac Sidelines Media Elite at the Republican ConventionLauren Ashburn
August 28, 2012
Without it, the seeds of change and innovation will wither in a soil that is an arid mix of negativism and defeatism.
Historical Examples
Though the desert were arid on this side, it was her desert, and there in her tent must she abide.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
He was accustomed to far higher temperatures on the arid planet that was his home.
Slaves of MercuryNat Schachner
One could not fancy a drop of moisture upon that arid surface.
The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other TalesArthur Conan Doyle
Not a word or even a mutter assisted this short and arid handshake.
Under Western EyesJoseph Conrad
In the syllogistic system he found only subtlety and arid ingenuity.
Erasmus and the Age of ReformationJohan Huizinga
arid
- having little or no rain; dry; parched with heat
- devoid of interest
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin āridus, from ārēre to be dry
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for arid
adj.
1650s, "dry, parched," from French aride (15c.) or directly from Latin aridus "dry, arid, parched," from arere "to be dry," from PIE root *as- "to burn, glow" (see ash (n.1)). Figurative sense of "uninteresting" is from 1827. Related: Aridly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
arid
[ăr′ĭd]
- Very dry, especially having less precipitation than is needed to support most trees or woody plants. Deserts have arid climates.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.