dryness

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Lack of moisture

Nouns

1. dryness, aridity, aridness; desiccation, dehydration, anhydration, dehumidification; thirst; drainage; curing, mummification, freeze-drying (see preservation); evaporation.

2. drought; ebb tide, low water.

3. [hair, blow, clothes, etc. ] dryer, dehydrator, dehumidifier, desiccator.

Verbs — dry (up), soak (up), sponge, swab, wipe [dry], towel [off]; evaporate, dehumidify, desiccate; drain, parch, sear, scorch, wither; smoke, dehydrate; air-dry, drip-dry, blow-dry, etc.

Adjectives

1. dry, anhydrous, dehydrated, arid; dried, undamped; juiceless, sapless; sere, sear; thirsty, husky; rainless, without rain; sec, brut, fine; dry as a bone, a stick, a mummy, or a biscuit, bone-dry, dry-as-dust; waterproof, moisture-proof, watertight; desertlike, unirrigated, waterless, parched.

2. drying, [de]siccative, dehydrating.

Phrases — you never miss the water till the well runs dry.

Quotations — Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink (Coleridge).

Antonyms, see moisture.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. aridity, drought, dehydration, lack of moisture, desiccation, exsiccation, parchedness; see also drought , thirst .

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. A lack of excitement, liveliness, or interest: asepticism, blandness, colorlessness, drabness, dreariness, dullness, flatness, flavorlessness, insipidity, insipidness, jejuneness, lifelessness, sterileness, sterility, stodginess, vapidity, vapidness, weariness. See EXCITE. 2. The practice of refraining from use of alcoholic liquors: abstinence, soberness, sobriety, teetotalism, temperance. See DRUGS, RESTRAINT, USED.