desiccated

adjective

des·​ic·​cat·​ed ˈde-si-ˌkā-təd 

1

: dried up

a desiccated landscape

: preserved by drying

a cup of desiccated coconut

… all around were barrels of dried apples and apricots, shriveled and desiccated …

—Margaret Laurence

… when visitors come to the lab he likes to show them his collection of curiosities, which includes a desiccated octopus.

—Elizabeth Kolbert

2

: drained of emotional or intellectual vigor or vitality

Singer's utilitarianism is so dry and desiccated that it drains the drama from philosophy.

—George F. Will

Examples of desiccated in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In Washington, Kennedy has surrounded himself with other prominent fans of dietary supplements, who’ve promoted everything from weight-loss pills to capsules of desiccated organ meat. —Christian Orozco, NBC news, 28 Aug. 2025

The Hiroshima weapon three days earlier had flash-desiccated leaves on trees out to a distance of almost ten miles — the Nagasaki device, up to fifty miles. —Charles Pellegrino, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2025

Where the Earth has a dense atmosphere, abundant water and life, Mars is a desiccated, lifeless world where even the prospects of finding fossil bacteria are a long shot. —New Atlas, 12 July 2025

The dummy was a mummy — the desiccated corpse of Elmer McCurdy. —Los Angeles Times, 4 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1670, in the meaning defined at sense 1