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Glite Dictionary
aridness

aridness

6.7
A very dry area with little or no rain that makes plants hard to grow
  • noun
  • /ˈærɪd.nəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : aridez
  • Years of drought have contributed to the aridness of the region, leaving the landscape barren.

Examples

  • Merle looked ready to cry at any minute, but there was such an aridness to him that it seemed inconceivable that there could be moisture within.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The aridness of the desert made it difficult for plants to survive.

  • William deBuys, a TomDispatch regular, is the author of seven books, most recently A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest (Oxford, 2011).

    Blog text (6)

  • Farmers in the valley struggle with the severe aridness that affects their crops each summer.

Synonyms

dryness
vsaridness
8 1.0

Lack of water or wetness in something

focuses on extreme lack of moisture caused specifically by little or no rainfall
aridity
vsaridness
  • Specialized
1 7.9

Very dry conditions because of little or no rain

is the same state but uses a different noun form
arid climate
vsaridness
  • Specialized
1 4.1

A climate with very little rain that supports little plant life

refers to the dry quality itself rather than the climate type

Antonyms

fertility
8 3.6

Soil or land that can grow many healthy plants

How Dry

desiccation
  • Specialized
2 8.6
aridness
  • Specialized
6.7
dryness
8 1.0
moisture
107 1.0

Surface Forms

aridness singular
aridnesses plural

Morphology

aridness = arid (transparent) = arid + ness

Formed by the adjective 'arid' plus the productive nominalizing suffix '-ness'; the meaning 'quality of being dry' is directly predictable.

Etymology

Aridness comes from the Latin word aridus, which means 'dry'. So aridness is the state of being very dry, especially land that gets little or no rain.