Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A substance, such as calcium oxide or silica gel, that has a high affinity for water and is used as a drying agent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Drying; desiccating.
  • noun A medicine or an application that dries the surface to which it is applied.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Drying; desiccative.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A substance (such as calcium oxide or silica gel) that is used as a drying agent because of its high affinity to water.
  • adjective Causing dryness

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a substance that promotes drying (e.g., calcium oxide absorbs water and is used to remove moisture)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin dēsiccāns, dēsiccant-, present participle of dēsiccāre, to desiccate; see desiccate.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word desiccant.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • For instance, those little packets in shoe boxes that say "do not eat."

    July 12, 2007

  • I always thought those instructions rather vague. Do not eat what?? ;-)

    July 12, 2007

  • Makes one wonder, doesn't it? Have you ever removed a tag from a matress? If so, I promise not to tell.

    July 12, 2007

  • Not only have I removed a tag from a mattress, but I also once cut one off a pillow. I'm a badass from way back.

    July 12, 2007

  • Shock! Dismay!

    July 12, 2007

  • That's it, I'm calling Homeland Security.

    July 12, 2007

  • Ha! They'll never get me, I tell ya! I've removed tags in 5 states, and I don't care anymore! HAAhahahaha!

    July 12, 2007

  • Oh dear, a hardened detagger.

    July 12, 2007

  • ...who's now tagging things on Wordie...

    November 11, 2007

  • Haha! But you see, these are virtual tags! They don't irritate the skin as much.

    November 11, 2007