What does "dry" mean?
The process by which something is dried.
Dry
/dɹaɪ/ adj, name, noun, phrase, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, phrase, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The process by which something is dried.
- Grammar: dry is listed as adj, name, noun, phrase, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: acarpous, acerb, acerbate, acerbic.
- Useful contrasts: pulpy, teary, wet.
- Usage evidence: The hot sun baked the ground dry.
How to use "dry"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "dry" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "dry" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "dry" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "dry" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "dry" is acting as adj, name, noun, phrase, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "acarpous" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "dry", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The process by which something is dried.
"This towel is still damp: I think it needs another dry."
- 2 a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages wordnet
- 3 A prohibitionist (of alcoholic beverages). US
"The drys were as unhappy with the second part of the speech as the wets were with the first half."
- 4 An area with little or no rain, or sheltered from it.
"Come under my umbrella and keep in the dry."
- 5 The dry season. Australia, with-definite-article
"[…] one was sodden to the bone and mildewed to the marrow and moved to pray […] for that which formerly he had cursed—the Dry! the good old Dry—when the grasses yellowed, browned, dried to tinder, burst into spontaneous flame— […]"
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 An area of waterless country. Australia
- 7 Unsweetened ginger ale; dry ginger.
"All day, all night you feel as if the Earth could fly/Three more all for fine Indian Gin and whiskey dry."
- 8 A radical or hard-line Conservative; especially, one who supported the policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. British, UK
Verb
- 1 To lose moisture. intransitive
"The clothes dried on the line."
- 2 To cause code to become DRY; to remove repetition from code.
- 3 remove the moisture from and make dry wordnet
- 4 To remove moisture from. transitive
"Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief."
- 5 become dry or drier wordnet
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- 6 To exhaust; to cause to run dry. figuratively, transitive
- 7 For an actor to forget their lines while performing. informal, intransitive
"An actor never stumbled over his lines, he “fluffed”; he never forgot his dialogue, he “dried.”"
Adjective
- 1 Free from or lacking moisture.
"This towel's dry. Could you wet it and cover the chicken so it doesn't go dry as it cooks?"
- 2 Of code, having the quality of adhering to the principle of DRY; containing as little repetition as possible.
- 3 Unable to produce a liquid, as water, (petrochemistry) oil, or (agriculture) milk.
"This well is as dry as that cow."
- 4 Built without or lacking mortar.
"[A]lready the gate was blocked with a wall of squared stones laid dry, but very thick and very high, across the opening."
- 5 Anhydrous: free from or lacking water in any state, regardless of the presence of other liquids.
"Dry alcohol is 200 proof."
Show 17 more definitions
- 6 Athirst, eager. figuratively
"Prospero:[…]Confederates / (ſo drie he was for Sway) with King of Naples / To giue him Annuall tribute, doe him homage / Subiect his Coronet, to his Crowne and bend / The Dukedom yet vnbow'd (alas poore Millaine) / To moſt ignoble ſtooping."
- 7 Free from or lacking alcohol or alcoholic beverages.
"Of course it's a dry house. He was an alcoholic but he's been dry for almost a year now."
- 8 Describing an area where sales of alcoholic or strong alcoholic beverages are banned.
"You'll have to drive out of this dry county to find any liquor."
- 9 Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness, particularly
"These epistles will become less dry, more susceptible of ornament."
- 10 Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness; Low in sugar; lacking sugar; unsweetened.
"Proper martinis are made with London dry gin and dry vermouth."
- 11 Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness; Amusing without showing amusement.
"Steven Wright has a deadpan delivery, Norm Macdonald has a dry sense of humor, and Oscar Wilde had a dry wit."
- 12 Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness; Lacking interest, boring.
"a dry academic discipline turned into a living subject"
- 13 Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness; Of a board or flop: Not permitting the creation of many or of strong hands.
"Jake was hoping to make something good out of his suited 7-8 hand, but the flop came out dry: 2-5-10 rainbow, and all of the wrong suit!."
- 14 Free from or lacking embellishment or sweetness; Exhibiting precise execution lacking delicate contours or soft transitions of color.
- 15 Not using afterburners or water injection for increased thrust.
"This fighter jet's engine has a maximum dry thrust of 200 kilonewtons."
- 16 Involving computations rather than work with biological or chemical matter. derogatory
- 17 Free from applied audio effects (especially reverb).
- 18 Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.
"never dry fire a bow"
- 19 Without a usual complement or consummation; impotent.; Of a bite from an animal: not containing the usual venom.
"dry bite"
- 20 In a dry spell (e.g., unemployed, slow).
"Things are dry right now. We're hoping business'll pick up next month."
- 21 Of a mass, service, or rite: involving neither consecration nor communion.
- 22 Mixed with sauce and not served in a soup. Malaysia, Singapore
"I would have mee tai mak (short, thick noodles), either in soup or dry, with fishballs, pork balls or yong tau foo at this noodles shop near my house."
Adjective
- 1 practicing complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages wordnet
- 2 lacking warmth or emotional involvement wordnet
- 3 having a large proportion of strong liquor wordnet
- 4 without a mucous or watery discharge wordnet
- 5 humorously sarcastic or mocking wordnet
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 (of food) eaten without a spread or sauce or other garnish wordnet
- 7 having no adornment or coloration wordnet
- 8 unproductive especially of the expected results wordnet
- 9 used of solid substances in contrast with liquid ones wordnet
- 10 lacking interest or stimulation; dull and lifeless wordnet
- 11 (of liquor) having a low residual sugar content because of decomposition of sugar during fermentation wordnet
- 12 not shedding tears wordnet
- 13 free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet wordnet
- 14 not producing milk wordnet
- 15 opposed to or prohibiting the production and sale of alcoholic beverages wordnet
- 16 lacking moisture or volatile components wordnet
Phrase
- 1 Acronym of don't repeat yourself (“software development principle aimed at reducing repetition”). abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
"The general principle here is DRY: Don't Repeat Yourself (HTOO). If you duplicate information in two or more places, sooner or later, you'll forget to update one of the copies […]"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Antonyms
Example
"The hot sun baked the ground dry."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "dry"?
Common synonyms include: acarpous, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acescent, acetose.
How do you use "dry" in a sentence?
The hot sun baked the ground dry.
How do you pronounce "dry"?
Pronounced /dɹaɪ/.
Etymology
Adjective and noun from Middle English drye, dryge, drüȝe, from Old English drȳġe (“dry; parched, withered”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgī, *draugī, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz, *draugiz (“dry, hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”). The verb derives from Middle English drien, from Old English drȳġan (“to dry”), from Proto-West Germanic *drūgijan, from Proto-Germanic *drūgiz (“hard, desiccated, dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“strong, hard, solid”). cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots dry, drey (“dry”), North Frisian drüg, driig, Saterland Frisian druuch (“dry”), West Frisian droech (“dry”), Dutch droog (“dry”), Low German dröög (“dry”), German dröge (“dull”), Icelandic draugur (“a dry log”). Related also to German trocken (“dry”), West Frisian drege (“long-lasting”), Danish drøj (“tough”), Swedish dryg (“lasting, hard”), Icelandic drjúgur (“ample, long”), Latin firmus (“strong, firm, stable, durable”). See also drought, drain, dree.