dry
Americanadjective
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free from moisture or excess moisture; not moist; not wet.
a dry towel; dry air.
- Antonyms:
- wet
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having or characterized by little or no rain.
a dry climate; the dry season.
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characterized by absence, deficiency, or failure of natural or ordinary moisture.
-
not under, in, or on water.
It was good to be on dry land.
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not now containing or yielding water or other liquid; depleted or empty of liquid.
The well is dry.
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not yielding milk.
a dry cow.
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free from tears.
dry eyes.
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drained or evaporated away.
a dry river.
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desiring drink; thirsty.
He was so dry he could hardly speak.
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causing thirst.
dry work.
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served or eaten without butter, jam, etc..
dry toast.
-
(of cooked food) lacking enough moisture or juice to be satisfying or succulent.
-
(of bread and bakery products) stale.
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of or relating to nonliquid substances or commodities.
dry measure; dry provisions.
-
(of wines) not sweet.
-
(of a cocktail)
-
made with dry vermouth.
a dry Manhattan.
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made with relatively little dry vermouth.
a dry martini.
-
-
characterized by or favoring prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquors for use in beverages.
a dry state.
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(of British biscuits) not sweet.
-
plain; bald; unadorned.
dry facts.
-
dull; uninteresting.
a dry subject.
- Antonyms:
- interesting
-
expressed in a straight-faced, matter-of-fact way.
dry humor.
-
indifferent; cold; unemotional.
a dry answer.
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unproductive.
The greatest of artists have dry years.
-
(of lumber) fully seasoned.
-
Building Trades.
-
(of masonry construction) built without fresh mortar or cement.
-
(of a wall, ceiling, etc., in an interior) finished without the use of fresh plaster.
-
-
Ceramics.
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insufficiently glazed.
-
Art. hard and formal in outline, or lacking mellowness and warmth in color.
verb (used with object)
-
dries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dried,
past participle, past
-
drying
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
dries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dried,
past participle, past
-
drying
present participle
noun
-
drys,
plural
-
dries
plural
-
a prohibitionist.
-
a dry place, area, or region.
verb phrase
-
dry out
-
to make or become completely dry.
-
to undergo or cause to undergo detoxification from consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol.
-
-
dry up
-
to make or become completely dry.
-
to cease to exist; evaporate.
-
Informal. to stop talking.
-
(in acting) to forget one's lines or part.
-
idioms
adjective
-
lacking moisture; not damp or wet
-
having little or no rainfall
-
not in or under water
dry land
-
having the water drained away or evaporated
a dry river
-
not providing milk
a dry cow
-
(of the eyes) free from tears
-
-
informal in need of a drink; thirsty
-
causing thirst
dry work
-
-
eaten without butter, jam, etc
dry toast
-
(of a wine, cider, etc) not sweet
-
pathol not accompanied by or producing a mucous or watery discharge
a dry cough
-
consisting of solid as opposed to liquid substances or commodities
-
without adornment; plain
dry facts
-
lacking interest or stimulation
a dry book
-
lacking warmth or emotion; cold
a dry greeting
-
(of wit or humour) shrewd and keen in an impersonal, sarcastic, or laconic way
-
opposed to or prohibiting the sale of alcoholic liquor for human consumption
a dry area
-
(of a ewe) without a lamb after the mating season
-
electronics (of a soldered electrical joint) imperfect because the solder has not adhered to the metal, thus reducing conductance
verb
-
to make or become dry or free from moisture
-
(tr) to preserve (meat, vegetables, fruit, etc) by removing the moisture
noun
-
informal a Conservative politician who is considered to be a hard-liner Compare wet
-
informal the dry season
-
an informal word for prohibitionist
Synonym Usage
Dry, arid both mean without moisture. Dry is the general word indicating absence of water or freedom from moisture: a dry well; dry clothes. Arid suggests great or intense dryness in a region or climate, especially such as results in bareness or in barrenness: arid tracts of desert. See evaporate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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drynessnoun
-
overdrynessnoun
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redryverb
-
predryverb (used with object)
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underdryverb (used with object)
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dryableadjective
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overdryadjective
-
ultradryadjective
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undryadjective
-
undryableadjective
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drylyadverb
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overdrylyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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drysimple
-
driessimple
-
have driedperfect
-
has driedperfect
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am dryingprogressive
-
are dryingprogressive
-
is dryingprogressive
-
have been dryingperfect progressive
-
has been dryingperfect progressive
Past
-
driedsimple
-
had driedperfect
-
was dryingprogressive
-
were dryingprogressive
-
had been dryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dry
First recorded before 900; Middle English drie, Old English drȳge; akin to Dutch droog, German trocken; see drought
Explanation
Things that are dry lack moisture. A desert or a dessert can be dry. If your eyes are dry, you’ve stopped crying. It’s also a flavor that means the opposite of sweet. The Sahara Desert and crumbly chocolate cake are both dry. Dry is also a verb — when you paint your kitchen, you have to wait for the first coat to dry before you can add another. If someone says you have a dry sense of humor, they mean that you have a subtle style, keeping a straight face even when you say something outrageous.
Vocabulary lists containing dry
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.
See Examples For:
Crates of raisins dry in the sun in Caruthers in Fresno County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Experts have described the prolonged dry period as a megadrought, and it continues to place intense pressure on the region's limited water supplies.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Mercedes had two choices - stay out, or pit and change tyre compound, as drivers are obligated to use two compounds during a dry grand prix.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Palm oil output could remain under pressure from dry weather and wildfires, while low water levels could disrupt coal transportation and nickel production in near term, they reckon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Some people actually told me that meat was bad for them and to only feed them dry dog food.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
It also dries out soils, deepening drought where El Nino brings drought.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
By raising average temperatures, it makes extreme heat more likely and, when rain fails, increases evaporation and dries soils faster.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
But they are packaged into different tranches in order of who will get repaid first if the money dries up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
As the liquid dries, the suspended particles inside can gather into uneven patterns.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
I wash, he dries, and he asks me benign, avuncular, maddening questions, such as how do I like Grade Nine.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
That really divided Whigs between drys and wets.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2017
So who are the other Washington VIPs queuing up for blow drys, yoga, personal training and makeup application in the comfort of their open concept living rooms?
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2015
And while profits from cuts, colouring and blow drys have remained static, in 2012 the salon's hair extension business has grown 60% year on year.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2012
But she nonetheless tells her very fellow drys that she can secure Nucky’s help in doing away with these neighborhood stashes.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2010
They do not realize that the drys can still keep on voting dry, with intense conviction, and great battle cries, and still have a sense of humor.
From The Art of the Moving Picture by Vachel Lindsay
Sork’s lab, along with the Nature Conservancy, is sequencing oak DNA to identify which trees are best built to survive a hotter, drier California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Don't pack away your summer clothes just yet as warmer and drier weather could be set to return to the UK next week.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
North-west Scotland will see some rain but these systems are not expected to push across the rest of the UK, so this would mean drier weather with lighter winds and higher daytime temperatures for most.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
There will be a drier and brighter interlude on Wednesday, with the rest of the week staying a little unsettled with further spells of rain.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
We were all sure that her canvas tent would be drier.
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
Already before El Nino hit, rivers worldwide were showing "abnormal" flows, WMO said, with 2025 among the three driest years for rivers in 35 years.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Last year was among the driest for the world's rivers in over three decades, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said in a report.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
July’s 6.5 millimeters of rain in England, about 0.25 inches, was the lowest since records began in 1836 and less than half the next driest July—in 1911.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
In other research, scientists found that the last quarter-century has probably been the driest in 1,200 years in Western North America, and that global warming is responsible for about 40% of the drought’s severity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
We quickly learned that whenever we ventured into the kitchen, we needed to wrap our hands in the driest socks or rags we could find.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
She also recommends keeping dried herbs, spices and salt available as, she says, tinned food can be slightly bland.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
The June to August season was defined by severe, back-to-back heatwaves that shut schools, dried up rivers and primed the land for devastating wildfires.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
I use the zest of a whole lemon rather than its juice — lots of brightness, no unnecessary liquid — plus dried thyme, garlic, onion and enough black pepper to make itself known.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Aquifer levels sank, lakes dried up and most of the large farming companies departed amid water restrictions in the late 1990s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The three cups contained dried blackberries, huckleberries, and raspberries, all separately soaking in warm water.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
The world’s climate has changed, providing ample rainfall in some places while drying out others.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
It contained its own complete production line, including a drying turbine -- but wasn't as big as another recently dismantled facility that employed some 50 people.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
In the Rocky Mountains, years of extreme heat and drought have baked the landscape, drying up streams that feed the Colorado River and desiccating pastures where cattle graze.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
With the sun breaking through and a drying wind, the wicket flattened out and batting seemed to be becoming easier than on day one.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
I shift away, placing the last pot into the drying rack.
From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari
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.
