Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To dry out thoroughly.
  • intransitive verb To preserve (foods) by removing the moisture. synonym: dry.
  • intransitive verb To make dry, dull, or lifeless.
  • intransitive verb To become dry; dry out.
  • adjective Lacking spirit or animation; arid.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Dry; dried.
  • To dry; deprive of moisture; expel moisture from; especially, to bring to a thoroughly dry state for preservation, as various kinds of food.
  • To become dry.

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

  • intransitive verb To become dry.
  • transitive verb To dry up; to deprive or exhaust of moisture; to preserve by drying.

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

  • verb to dry
  • verb to preserve by drying

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

  • verb lose water or moisture
  • adjective lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless
  • verb preserve by removing all water and liquids from
  • verb remove water from

Etymologies

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

[Latin dēsiccāre, dēsiccāt- : dē-, de- + siccāre, to dry up (from siccus, dry).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin dēsiccō

Support

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

Examples

  • But maybe don't ask too much further because it's possible that before 'freezer perpetuity', the deceased cats might have been laid out on the hood of cars on front lawn, you know, to kind of desiccate before being burying?

    The Moderate Voice 2009

  • Specifically, that means a time when liquid water appears to have run freely around the planet, and when Mars had a magnetic field surrounding it that enabled a much thicker atmosphere to act as a shield against the ravages of the solar wind and the ultraviolet radiation that now desiccate the surface.

    First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

  • The trick was to desiccate the seeds, spores and the animals first (for 3 days over silica gel) before heating them slowly at a rate of 4 °C per minute.

    Survival at extreme temperatures: what is it good for? AYDIN 2009

  • Specifically, that means a time when liquid water appears to have run freely around the planet, and when Mars had a magnetic field surrounding it that enabled a much thicker atmosphere to act as a shield against the ravages of the solar wind and the ultraviolet radiation that now desiccate the surface.

    First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

  • Finally, they shrink by as much as half as they desiccate naturally.

    Groundwork: Beans, cute and dried Adrian Higgins 2010

  • Windy conditions can also desiccate so erect a windbreak until they are established.

    January: the to-do list 2011

  • The trick was to desiccate the seeds, spores and the animals first (for 3 days over silica gel) before heating them slowly at a rate of 4 °C per minute.

    Archive 2009-07-01 AYDIN 2009

  • This dance of man against man in a self-created desert is different only in scale and naked exposure from how we live in the U.S. with our armies and watchmen and willingness to desiccate the lands that feed us.

    Valerie Tarico: Man Against Nature is Man Against Man 2010

  • This dance of man against man in a self-created desert is different only in scale and naked exposure from how we live in the U.S. with our armies and watchmen and willingness to desiccate the lands that feed us.

    Valerie Tarico: Man Against Nature is Man Against Man 2010

  • What that means is that the juiciest of tips, when subjected to research, tend to desiccate and crumble.

    The Fiddler in the Subway Gene Weingarten 2010

Comments

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

  • The most difficult uncommon word to spell.

    --Chris Cole, Wordplay (See comment under "Wordplay List".)

    May 25, 2008