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:
“If you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated,” Eisenman warns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Power and water outages have affected tens of thousands of buildings, leaving residents sweltering and thirsty, and fearing yet another repeat of the quake that struck 10 years ago.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
The most common symptoms include feeling very tired, peeing more than usual and feeling thirsty all the time.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Is the U.S. now a nation that sings like Argentina, rows like Norway and punishes beer kegs like the thirsty Scottish Tartan Army?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
I’m thirsty, so I guess I should drag the remains of the rabbit to the stream for the runts.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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
What’s more, research has shown that as the planet has warmed, the atmosphere has become thirstier, sucking more moisture from plants and soils and ensuring that dry years are drier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
"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
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
Industry water reduction promises generally compare artificial turf with the thirstiest sod grasses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2024
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
See, there comes that long Hildebadus; he is one of the thirstiest.
From A Struggle for Rome, Vol. 2 (of 3) by Felix Dahn
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.
