parched
Americanadjective
-
extremely or completely dried, as by heat, sun, or wind.
Dry shrubs cover parts of this parched valley in the South Hebron Hills.
-
very thirsty.
After each shift in the ship’s engine room, I was dead tired and totally parched, needing large amounts of water.
-
(of peas, beans, grains, etc.) slightly toasted or roasted.
The village folk customarily have one meal a day of parched grains, so there is always a crowd around the old widow’s oven.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of parched
Explanation
Something parched is excessively dry and hot, in extreme need of water, like a desert, a neglected plant, or your throat after a five-kilometer run. Some foods, like corn, beans, or grains, may be parched, or toasted, to bring out their flavor and help preserve them. American Indians parched corn to make it keep and remain edible over the winter. They taught this to the new colonists, and parched corn later became a staple of explorers like Lewis and Clark, as well as soldiers during the Civil War. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of parched corn, "It crackled and crunched, and its taste was sweet and brown."
Vocabulary lists containing parched
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A Long Walk to Water
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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.
A spokesperson for the estate said after temperatures exceeded 30C in May, June and July, and with the "exceptionally dry" start to July, the lawn was "parched enough for history to reveal itself once again".
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Our chests feel tight," she told AFP, saying the smoke combined with recent searing heatwaves and parched fields left conditions feeling "eerie."
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
But farmers are drawing heavily from the waterways to irrigate fields parched by the heat.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
The California city was once a drought poster child, but now it generates enough water to rescue parched states.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
He was in pain, and so parched that he could no longer swallow even a mouthful of food.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
