dry up

verb

dried up; drying up; dries up

transitive verb

: to cut off the supply of

intransitive verb

1

: to disappear as if by evaporation, draining, or cutting off of a source of supply

2

: to wither or die through gradual loss of vitality

3

: to stop talking

Synonyms of dry up

• quiet (down)
• hush
• clam up
• shut up
• settle (down)
• pipe down
• cool (down)
• calm (down)

Examples of dry up in a Sentence

sick of her constant complaining, he angrily told her to dry up

Recent Examples on the Web

Without entry-level employees, companies’ future talent pool will dry up, causing pipeline challenges. —Nickle Lamoreaux, Fortune, 7 Apr. 2026

Law enforcement officials emphasized that the search for the 84-year-old remained an active investigation, although public announcements about new developments have dried up as of late. —Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2026

With just seven games remaining in the regular season, the opportunities to get Curry on the floor before the play-in are drying up quickly. —Logan Brown, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026

The Wild, in large part because Kaprizov and Boldy aren’t scoring, have dried up offensively. —Michael Russo, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for dry up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup