parch
Americanverb (used with object)
-
parches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
parched,
past participle, past
-
parching
present participle
-
to make extremely, excessively, or completely dry, as heat, sun, and wind do.
-
to make dry, hot, or thirsty.
Walking in the sun parched his throat.
-
to dry (peas, beans, grain, etc.) by exposure to heat without burning; to toast or roast slightly.
A staple of the Indian diet was parched corn.
-
to dry or shrivel with cold.
verb (used without object)
-
parches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
parched,
past participle, past
-
parching
present participle
-
to suffer from heat, thirst, or need of water.
-
to become parched; undergo drying by heat.
-
to dry (usually followed byup ).
verb
-
to deprive or be deprived of water; dry up
the sun parches the fields
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(tr; usually passive) to make very thirsty
I was parched after the run
-
(tr) to roast (corn, etc) lightly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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parchsimple
-
parchessimple
-
have parchedperfect
-
has parchedperfect
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am parchingprogressive
-
are parchingprogressive
-
is parchingprogressive
-
have been parchingperfect progressive
-
has been parchingperfect progressive
Past
-
parchedsimple
-
had parchedperfect
-
was parchingprogressive
-
were parchingprogressive
-
had been parchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of parch
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English perchen; further origin unknown
Explanation
If you don't water your lawn all summer, the hot weather will parch the grass until it's brown and withered. To parch is to dry up or wither due to sunlight or heat. The verb parch is often used in the context of plants and people. Crops will parch during a drought. A patient's skin will parch during an intense fever. If you're a fan of cooking shows, you may hear the word used in a less dire way. A chef may "parch some corn," which basically means she will roast it lightly. Parch can also mean "to make thirsty," as in "After running a marathon in this heat, you'll feel parched."
Vocabulary lists containing parch
The Birchbark House
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"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
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Shabanu
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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.
See Examples For:
The parch begins in autumn, just as trees across the region shed their colorful leaves—a highly flammable fuel for wildfires.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 23, 2023
The searing heat, blinding sun, and arid winds that parch the throat and can drive sand and grit into the eyes, make the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula a tough place to survive in.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2022
Both developments, he said, are caused by rising global temperatures, which intensify storms during some seasons, then parch the landscape during others.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 19, 2022
Many have fled, heading to neighboring Iran or living in abject poverty in camps for the displaced within Afghanistan as repeated droughts parch the land and shrivel pastures.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2021
For months, the long droughts parch the earth, the rivers may be forded on foot, the flocks and herds pant for refreshing waters and green herbage.
From The Cape and the Kaffirs A Diary of Five Years' Residence in Kaffirland by Harriet Ward
The unusual intensity of some of the fires underlines the increasing risk the continent faces as climate change parches vegetation and makes the emergencies more extreme, scientists say.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
The Great Salt Lake has already shrunk by two-thirds, as a broad swath of Utah around it parches.
From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
Hot, dry weather parches the landscape, creating more fuel to feed fires.
From The Verge ● Aug. 6, 2021
When the chicks are older and the summer sun parches the landscape, she will lead them to higher altitudes for water and cooler temperatures.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2018
A homeward fever parches up my tongue–320 O let me slake it at the running springs!
From Endymion A Poetic Romance by John Keats
It ignited near a hiking trail in the parched hills just northwest of the city on Saturday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
The wet weather will be welcome for parched regions of the UK, but a lot more will be needed before drought conditions start to ease.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Most of the rain that does eventually fall will be absorbed by the parched ground before it can replenish rivers, exacerbating the problem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The Daily Star follows with the same headline, showing a parched Ascot racecourse on its front page.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
And whenever those twin poisonous flowers began to sprout in the parched land of that field, Mariam uprooted them.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
They are fighting a perilous battle with limited weapons against fires blamed in part on a stronger-than-usual episode of the El Nino climate phenomenon parching Southeast Asia.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
This manifested throughout 2024 in so-called “weird weather,” from unusually extreme hurricanes and floods to intense heat waves, parching droughts and unprecedented wildfires.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2024
With climate change parching the land and increasing wildfire hazards, scientists are beginning to use cutting-edge technology and computer modeling to make controlled, low-intensity burns safer, more effective and less disruptive to nearby communities.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
In addition, a severe drought is parching Italy.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 17, 2022
They already had a pile of birds large enough to fill the biggest parching tray, which Angeline had fetched from the camp.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
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.
