Adjacent Words

Desiccate definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESICCATE, v.t. [L. To dry.] to dry; to exhaust of moisture; to exhale or remove moisture from.
DESICCATE, v.i. To become dry.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless; "a technically perfect but arid performance of the sonata"; "a desiccate romance"; "a prissy and emotionless creature...settles into a mold of desiccated snobbery"-C.J.Rolo [syn: arid, desiccate, desiccated] v
1: preserve by removing all water and liquids from; "carry dehydrated food on your camping trip" [syn: dehydrate, desiccate]
2: remove water from; "All this exercise and sweating has dehydrated me" [syn: dehydrate, desiccate]
3: lose water or moisture; "In the desert, you get dehydrated very quickly" [syn: exsiccate, dehydrate, dry up, desiccate] [ant: hydrate]

Merriam Webster's

verb (-cated; -cating) Etymology: Latin desiccatus, past participle of desiccare to dry up, from de- + siccare to dry, from siccus dry — more at sack Date: 1575 transitive verb 1. to dry up 2. to preserve (a food) by drying ; dehydrate 3. to drain of emotional or intellectual vitality intransitive verb to become dried up • desiccation noun • desiccative adjective • desiccator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. remove the moisture from, dry (esp. food for preservation) (desiccated coconut). Derivatives: desiccation n. desiccative adj. Etymology: L desiccare (as DE-, siccus dry)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desiccate Des"ic*cate (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Desiccated; p. pr. & vb. n. Desiccating.] [L. desiccatus, p. p. of desiccare to dry up; de- + siccare to dry, siccus dry. See Sack wine.] To dry up; to deprive or exhaust of moisture; to preserve by drying; as, to desiccate fish or fruit. Bodies desiccated by heat or age. --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desiccate Des"ic*cate, v. i. To become dry.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Dry, exsiccate, dry up, make dry.

Moby Thesaurus

air-dry, anhydrate, bake, blast-freeze, blot, brine, brush, burn, corn, cure, decay, dehumidify, dehydrate, deplete, devitalize, diminish, divest, drain, droop, dry, dry up, dry-cure, dry-salt, embalm, evaporate, exhaust, exsiccate, fade, fade away, fire, flag, freeze, freeze-dry, fume, insolate, irradiate, jerk, kiln, kipper, languish, marinade, marinate, mummify, parch, pickle, pine, preservatize, quick-freeze, refrigerate, rub, salt, scorch, sear, season, shrink, shrivel, smoke, smoke-cure, soak up, sponge, stuff, sun, sun-dry, swab, torrefy, towel, weazen, wilt, wipe, wither, wizen