dried-up
Americanadjective
-
depleted of water or moisture; gone dry.
a dried-up water hole.
-
shriveled with age; wizened.
a dried-up old mule skinner.
Etymology
Origin of dried-up
First recorded in 1810–20
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.
In a dried-up riverbed, there’s a rock with a freshly drilled hole in it—the handiwork of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which touched down in Jezero Crater in 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
When the team analysed the dried-up powder, they found it contained hematite, "giving the paste a deep red colour".
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
Ingenuity remains in contact with its companion, the Perseverance rover, which has been exploring a dried-up river bed for signs of extinct Martian life.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
It is not uncommon to see buildings on dried-up river beds which turn into torrents in heavy rain.
From Reuters ● Nov. 21, 2023
There were old prospectors, their faces wrinkled and brown from the sun, like dried-up apples.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
