thirsty
Americanadjective
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thirstier,
comparative
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thirstiest
superlative
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feeling or having thirst; craving liquid.
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needing moisture, as land; parched; dry or arid.
the thirsty soil.
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eagerly desirous; eager.
thirsty for news.
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causing thirst.
Digging is thirsty work.
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Slang.
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eager for attention or approval.
thirsty celebrities.
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desperate for affection, sex, or sexual attention.
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adjective
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feeling a desire to drink
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dry; arid
the thirsty soil
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(foll by for) feeling an eager desire
thirsty for information
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causing thirst
thirsty work
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of thirsty
First recorded before 950; Middle English thirsti, Old English thyrstig; akin to Dutch dorstig, German durstig, Sanskrit tṛṣita “thirsty,” from the Proto-Indo-European root ters-, tṛs- “dry,” from which Latin terra (from unattested tersa ) “(dry) land” derives
Explanation
When you're thirty, you crave liquids. Thirsty people want a drink. To be thirsty is to feel like you need to drink something. People tend to get more thirsty on very hot days or during exercise, when a lot of their body's fluid is being sweated out. Eating can also make you thirsty, and so can waking up in the morning. The word thirsty comes from the Proto-Indo-European root ters, or "dry."
Vocabulary lists containing thirsty
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 drive to power AI has resulted in sprawling, polluting, noisy, thirsty complexes reminiscent of the industrial revolution, WSJ tech columnist Christopher Mims writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Another obstacle is that upgrading an older data center to newer, less thirsty technology is expensive.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
Soil is like a type of reservoir - those stores are depleted by thirsty trees and plants, and evaporation during hot temperatures.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
“If you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated,” Eisenman warns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
She always urged them to eat apples or bananas if they were hungry, and when they were thirsty, she suggested water or orange juice.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
When, last year, Congress suspended fuel economy penalties for light vehicles, Ford could afford to sell more of its larger, thirstier, more robust V8s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
It is the largest city in the world not built on a water source, and the city of gold is getting thirstier.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2024
This warmer, thirstier atmosphere literally sucked water out of the region’s plants and soils, pushing large swaths of the region into what the U.S.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2023
He added that research indicates that 10% of the state’s water supply will be lost to thirstier soils and a more evaporative atmosphere by 2040.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
“I’m getting thirstier every minute. If it didn’t hurt you, it won’t hurt me. If my papa was here, he’d let me have some.”
From "Tuck Everlasting" by Natalie Babbit
Meanwhile, the automaker’s biggest, thirstiest trucks are also its top sellers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Shadowed by a towering mountain range, Sequim experiences the Olympic Peninsula’s thirstiest microclimate with only 17 inches of rain annually — compared to 37 inches in Seattle.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
The cultivation of almonds, the thirstiest of all food crops, expanded by 78% between 2010 and 2022; at least half of those dozen years were in periods of extreme drought.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2023
Meanwhile, almonds — one of our thirstiest crops — are proliferating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2023
"I expect he is the thirstiest of the lot, seeing he is the only one who did any work."
From The Happy Adventurers by Lydia Miller Middleton
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.
