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

The Sahel, the arid strip south of the Sahara, has seen a succession of coups. —Ruth MacLean, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024

Last year, the team found a relict glacier in the geologically young region, a hopeful sign for future human habitation on a cold, arid, generally inhospitable world. —Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024

Alas, beginning around 4200 B.C.E. and continuing for another 2,000 years, the climate changed, the monsoons shifted south, the big lakes dried up (or went underground) and the area became much more arid. —Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 5 Feb. 2024

Their arrests came one day after police detectives found Franco dead in an isolated and arid part of Lehi, a small city near Provo. —Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 21 Mar. 2024

While their neighbors slowly migrate to the city, the boy’s parents dig up the arid land in search of family heirlooms. —Patrick Frater, Variety, 17 Feb. 2024

The storm's moisture will help fuel heavy snow across the West, and heavy rain in the normally arid Desert Southwest over the next few days, forecasters said. —USA TODAY, 6 Feb. 2024

The rain in the usually arid Los Angeles led to some celebs floating in late to the ceremony, and poor Trevor Noah had to do his darndest to stall for time. —Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 5 Feb. 2024

Without some excess irrigation, farming in many parts of the arid West is not sustainable. —The Arizona Republic, 15 Mar. 2024

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

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