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# dryness

«dryness» in Mova's school dictionary: **being dry, having little or no water or wetness** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (dryness — uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Dryness is being dry, having little or no water or wetness. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#m1)

2) Dryness of skin, eyes or mouth is when they feel dry and uncomfortable. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#m2)

3) Dryness of humour is a quiet, serious-faced way of being funny. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

Science and geography: dryness of deserts and soil, drought. Health: dry skin, eyes and lips, drinking water. In writing, dry humour. Phrases: dryness of the soil, skin dryness, dryness of the air.

### examples

- The dryness of the desert means few plants can grow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x1)
- The dryness of the soil showed we needed to water the beans. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x2)
- Lip balm helps with dryness in winter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x3)
- The dryness of the air made my eyes itch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x4)
- Cacti survive dryness by storing water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x5)
- I liked the dryness of his jokes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x6)
- His very sorrow and melancholy did but increase the comic dryness of his sharply-cut features, and increased the laughter of the audience, who showered plaudits on their favourite. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/#x7)

### note

Uncountable. Spelling keeps the y: dry + ness (not «driness»), although dried and drier change it. Opposite: wetness, moisture, damp.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «dryness» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dryness/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.