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arid

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ar·id

   [ar-id]
adjective
1.
being without moisture; extremely dry; parched: arid land; an arid climate.
2.
barren or unproductive because of lack of moisture: arid farmland.
3.
lacking interest or imaginativeness; sterile; jejune: an arid treatment of an exciting topic.
Origin:
1645–55; (< F) < Latin āridus, equivalent to ār(ēre) to be dry + -idus -id4; compare ash1

Related forms
a·rid·i·ty  [uh-rid-i-tee] , ar·id·ness, noun
ar·id·ly, adverb
hy·per·ar·id, adjective

Synonyms
1. See dry. 3. tedious, dreary, vapid, uninspired, uninspiring.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Arid is a TOEFL word you need to know.
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able to adjust oneself readily to different conditions
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Example Sentences
  • The climate is arid -- warm in the daytime, but much cooler in the evenings.
  • The lower parts of the country have a semi-arid or desert climate.
  • The moon's dry central regions are covered in rippling dunes and arid deserts.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
arid (ˈærɪd)
 
—adj
1.  having little or no rain; dry; parched with heat
2.  devoid of interest
 
[C17: from Latin āridus, from ārēre to be dry]
 
aridity
 
—n
 
'aridness
 
—n
 
'aridly
 
—adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

arid
1650s, "dry, parched," from L. aridus, from arere "to be dry," from PIE base *as- "to burn, glow" (see ardent). Figurative sense of "uninteresting" is from 1827.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
arid   (ār'ĭd)  Pronunciation Key 
Very dry, especially having less precipitation than is needed to support most trees or woody plants. Deserts have arid climates.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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