adjective
Etymology
Origin of bone-dry
First recorded in 1815–25
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Allegra Goodman’s family saga coaxes, in Sam Sacks’s words, “excellent, bone-dry humor” out of the skirmishes and long-running battles among members of a loving, fractious clan.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
It’s dry but not bone-dry, a wine to please a wide range of palates.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025
But a week later, powerful Santa Ana winds arrived, and coupled with single-digit humidity, they turned the landscape into bone-dry tinder ready to burn.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025
Broccoli growers are particularly struggling with a lack of water and bone-dry soils, with yields cut by more than 50%, quality affected and shoppers warned to expect smaller vegetables on the shelves.
From BBC • Aug. 17, 2025
There were plenty of washed-up logs and sticks on the island, and under the bridge the wood was bone-dry.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
