arid

adjective

ar·​id ˈa-rəd 

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

ə-ˈri-də-tē 

a-

noun

aridness

ˈa-rəd-nəs 

ˈer-əd-

noun

Synonyms

• boring
• colorless
• drab
• dreary
• drudging
• dry
• dull
• dusty
• flat
• heavy
• ho-hum
• humdrum
• jading
• jejune
• leaden
• mind-numbing
• monochromatic
• monotonous
• numbing
• old
• pedestrian
• ponderous
• slow
• stale
• stodgy
• stuffy
• stupid
• tame
• tedious
• tiresome
• tiring
• uninteresting
• wearisome
• weary
• wearying

Examples of arid in a Sentence

a dull and arid textbook

an arid speech about duty and responsibility

Recent Examples on the Web

Thus, between cold seas and towering mountains, the most arid climate on the planet was woven. —Discover Magazine, 27 June 2025

In Australia’s arid center, those blotches represent a new inland sea, born from a deluge that has traveled hundreds of miles through the veins of a giant, parched continent. —Angus Watson, CNN Money, 25 June 2025

California’s existing groundwater infrastructure may fail to quench the state’s thirst in an increasingly arid future, even as officials celebrate widespread conservation achievements, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) warned on Tuesday. —Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 24 June 2025

Keeping the cables bathed in arid air should stop any ongoing corrosion in its tracks, as well as ward off any future damage to the cables. —Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 23 June 2025

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

Phrases Containing arid

• hyper-arid

Rhymes for arid

• farad
• semiarid

Kids Definition

arid

adjective

ar·​id ˈar-əd 

: very dry

especially : not having enough rainfall to support agriculture

aridity

ə-ˈrid-ət-ē 

a-

noun