arid

adjective

ar·​id ˈa-rəd How to pronounce arid (audio)
ˈer-əd
1
: excessively dry
specifically : having insufficient rainfall to support agriculture
an arid region
2
: lacking in interest and life : jejune
arid textbooks
aridity noun
aridness
ˈa-rəd-nəs How to pronounce arid (audio)
ˈer-əd-
noun

Examples of arid in a Sentence

a dull and arid textbook an arid speech about duty and responsibility
Recent Examples on the Web For example, access to resources like clean water in an arid climate and how to get resources reliably to the site are challenges to solve for. Nargess Banks, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024 All sorts of pines, shrubs and so much more in a region usually thought of as arid. Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024 That a wetland serves as the lynchpin means that the tribe is taking on the restoration of an ecosystem that is especially threatened as the world’s climate trends hotter and more arid. Joseph Lee, Vox, 14 Oct. 2024 Striking images from the Sahara Desert show large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes after one of the most arid, barren places in the world was hit with its first floods in decades. Laura Paddison, CNN, 14 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for arid 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'arid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French & Latin; French aride, going back to Middle French, borrowed from Latin āridus, ārdus "dry, waterless, withered, austere (of style)," derivative, with the adjective suffix -idus, of ārēre "to be dry, parched, withered," going back to Indo-European *h2eh1s-eh1-, stative derivative of a verbal base *h2eh1s- "make dry with heat," whence also Tocharian A asatär "(it) dries up," Tocharian B osotär; also from the same base a root noun *h2eh1s-, whence Hittite ḫāšš- "ashes, dust," from which as thematic derivatives Sanskrit ā́saḥ "ashes, dust," and (as a collective or noun of appurtenance?) *h2eh1s-eh2-, whence Latin āra "altar," Oscan aasaí (locative), Hittite ḫāššā- "hearth," Old High German essa, esse "forge" (from *asjō-), Old Swedish æsia, æssia "smith's fire," Old Icelandic esja "soapstone (used in hearths)" (both from *asjōn-)

Note: Regarding the apparent derivatives ardēre "to burn, emit light or flame" and ardor "burning, fierce heat," see ardent. — Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben gives the "essive" (= stative) form of the verbal base *h2eh1s as *h2h1s-h1i̯é- and attributes the length in Latin ārēre to the influence of noun derivatives such as āra. D. Adams, however, regards the original base in Tocharian A and B to have been *ās-, corresponding to the length in the Latin verb (see A Dictionary of Tocharian B, Revised and Greatly Enlarged, Rodopi, 2013, p. 63). A. Kloekhorst (Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, Brill, 2008, pp. 322-23) regards the short vowel in Germanic as the residue of an oblique case form *h1h2s- of the root noun. See also ash entry 2, azalea.

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of arid was in 1652

Dictionary Entries Near arid

Cite this Entry

“Arid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arid. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

arid

adjective
ar·​id ˈar-əd How to pronounce arid (audio)
: very dry
especially : not having enough rainfall to support agriculture
aridity noun

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