What does "desiccant" mean?

A substance (such as calcium oxide or silica gel) that is used as a drying agent because of its high affinity for water.

What is a synonym for "desiccant"?

Common synonyms include: drier, drying, drying agent, siccative.

//ˈdɛsɪkənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A substance (such as calcium oxide or silica gel) that is used as a drying agent because of its high affinity for water.
2
a substance that promotes drying (e.g., calcium oxide absorbs water and is used to remove moisture) wordnet

Adjective

From Latin dēsiccans, active present participle of dēsiccō, from dē- (“of; from, away from”) + siccō (“dry up”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.