arid
Americanadjective
-
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.
an arid treatment of an exciting topic.
- Synonyms:
- pedantic, jejune, uninspiring, uninspired, vapid, dreary, tedious, dull
- Antonyms:
- imaginative, spirited, exciting, interesting, lively
adjective
-
having little or no rain; dry; parched with heat
-
devoid of interest
Synonym Usage
See dry.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of arid
First recorded in 1645–55; from French or directly from Latin āridus, equivalent to ār(ēre) “to be dry” + -idus adjective suffix; see -id 4; cf. ash 1
Explanation
Arid is so dry that nothing will grow. Death Valley in California features an arid climate, which is why it's called Death Valley and not Life Valley. Arid can also mean terribly dull or lifeless. A textbook about the climate of Death Valley might be called arid if it's written in an uninteresting way. Just like you wouldn't want to live in an arid climate, you wouldn't want to sit through an arid performance of the film-turned-musical, "Some Like it Hot."
Vocabulary lists containing arid
100 Top "SAT" Words
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A Long Walk to Water
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Physical Geography - Introductory
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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.
Much of the Colorado Basin is arid or semi-arid, which makes mountain snow especially important.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
The light, arid climate and mountains sloping into the sea reminded her of Lebanon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Flash floods are common in Northern Arizona because the arid, sparsely vegetated environments there have little capacity to absorb rain, the park's website said, urging visitors to be especially cautious from July to mid-September.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
Satellite images examined by BBC Verify show shrunken glaciers, scorched areas left by wildfires, green fields turned arid and lower river levels.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Nick jogs over to us right away, pink-faced and grinning, arid then Garrett and Bram come, too.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
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.
