desiccated
Americanadjective
adjective
-
dehydrated and powdered
desiccated coconut
-
lacking in spirit or animation
Other Word Forms
- undesiccated adjective
Etymology
Origin of desiccated
Explanation
To be desiccated is to be dried out. If you like desiccated fruit, you like dried fruit — such as raisins or dried apricots. Something that's described with the adjective desiccated is extremely dry, or parched. During a drought, the ground becomes cracked and desiccated. Removing moisture and humidity from something is what makes it become desiccated. The Latin root, desiccatus, means "to make very dry."
Vocabulary lists containing desiccated
Into the Wild
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Ender's Game
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The Miracle Worker
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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.
It also got a reprieve in November, when Trump modified his executive order to exempt more than 100 food items from the tariffs—including the desiccated coconut Kesselhaut imports from the Philippines.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
"Everything is there. I was stuck here," he told AFP in Karachi, near the well-known Bengali market where he peddles desiccated fish and prawns to make ends meet for $7 to $9 per day.
From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026
His latest book’s rather desiccated title led me to believe it would mount some dry defense of religion in general.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
Prof Rein's research finds that, after ten consecutive days of very dry weather, vegetation becomes so desiccated across wide areas that the likelihood of multiple fires igniting simultaneously rises sharply.
From BBC • Aug. 13, 2025
The clothes hung out to dry were still, stiff, as if desiccated by the hot afternoon sun.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
