thirsty
Americanadjective
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thirstier,
comparative
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thirstiest
superlative
-
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:
Another obstacle is that upgrading an older data center to newer, less thirsty technology is expensive.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
But their desire to build these AI-processing plants faster than ever has resulted in sprawling, polluting, noisy, thirsty complexes more reminiscent of the industrial revolution than the era of artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
"Even if my parents are thirsty, we sometimes wait for hours before we can drink."
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
“If you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated,” Eisenman warns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
We were in the bottoms about a hundred yards from the river, when I realized I was thirsty.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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
"The warmer, thirstier atmosphere is more effective at drying soils, meaning heatwaves are intensifying, with moderate heat events now becoming extreme."
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025
Because warmer air can hold more water, the atmosphere has become thirstier, pulling more moisture from plants and soils and making them burn more readily, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 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
It was the first week of Twelfthmoon, on the far side of the Elmuthaleth, and Strange the dreamer—library stowaway and scholar of fairy tales—had never been thirstier, or more full of wonder.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Meanwhile, the automaker’s biggest, thirstiest trucks are also its top sellers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
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
That’s not good news for some of the thirstiest vehicles on the road: pickup trucks.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2022
Sites is so costly, most of the thirstiest irrigation districts that could theoretically benefit from it consider it too expensive to support.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2022
A tumbler of this costs a halfpenny; its imbibing occupies two or three minutes, and assuages for hours the sufferings of the thirstiest palate.
From The Picturesque Antiquities of Spain Described in a series of letters, with illustrations representing Moorish palaces, cathedrals, and other monuments of art, contained in the cities of Burgos, Valladolid, Toledo, and Seville. by Nathaniel Armstrong Wells
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