adjective
Etymology
Origin of bone-dry
First recorded in 1815–25
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.
Cloaked in toxic haze that can burn years off a person's lifespan, volunteers have been digging ponds, canals and borewells through bone-dry peat in a desperate attempt to keep their hoses tapped.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent and the first two months of summer have been marked by successive heatwaves, scorching temperatures and bone-dry conditions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Allegra Goodman’s family saga coaxes, in Sam Sacks’s words, “excellent, bone-dry humor” out of the skirmishes and long-running battles among members of a loving, fractious clan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
But a week later, powerful Santa Ana winds arrived, and coupled with single-digit humidity, they turned the landscape into bone-dry tinder ready to burn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025
Just north of us was the bone-dry Kabul River.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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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.