Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for bone-dry. Search instead for bonedry.
Synonyms

bone-dry

American  
[bohn-drahy] / ˈboʊnˈdraɪ /

adjective

  1. very dry.

  2. very thirsty.

  3. Slang. dry.

  4. Ceramics. (of clay) thoroughly dried. dry.

bone-dry British  

adjective

  1. informal

    1. completely dry

      a bone-dry well

    2. ( postpositive )

      the well was bone dry
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

De Angelis and Waltz are also a hoot together, she as a heaving, hissing vampire bride who can’t stop licking her chops, he as a bone-dry vampire hunter dedicated to his investigation.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026

“This Is Not About Us” mines excellent, bone-dry humor from the neuroses.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

It’s dry but not bone-dry, a wine to please a wide range of palates.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

It warned that there was typically a large volume of "dead, bone-dry vegetation across large areas of countryside" at this time of year which acts as a fuel for fire.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2025

The sky was cloudless and the streets were bone-dry.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

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.