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

But on Wednesday evening, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary seemingly reversed course, writing in a post on X that the FDA was committed to pursuing the first-ever approval of desiccated thyroid extract, pending results of the ongoing clinical trials. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr, NBC news, 14 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

Owens Lake was left desiccated after Los Angeles began tapping the eastern Sierra watershed for its own needs more than a century ago. —Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1670, in the meaning defined at sense 1