Word.ws English Dictionary

drying out

drying out is the present participle and gerund of dry out.

Meaning of dry out

Verb

dry out (third-person singular simple present dries out, present participle drying out, simple past and past participle dried out)

  1. (transitive) To cause moisture to be completely removed from; to make dry.
    • Placing socks on the radiator will dry them out more quickly.
    Synonyms:
    dessicate, dehydrate
  2. (intransitive) To have excess water evaporate or be otherwise removed; to become dry.
    • Your trousers need to dry out before you put them on.
    Synonyms:
    dessicate, dehydrate
  3. (ambitransitive, colloquial, idiomatic) To (cause to) sober up; to cease to be drunk; to quit using drugs or alcohol.
  4. (intransitive) To become less oily, affecting play, after being oiled up.

Questions about drying out

What is drying out the present participle and gerund of?
Drying out is the present participle and gerund of dry out.

Words near drying out in the dictionary

  1. drying machines
  2. drying off
  3. drying oil
  4. drying oils
  5. drying one's eyes
  6. drying out
  7. drying rack
  8. drying racks
  9. drying time
  10. drying times
  11. drying up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drying out (page history and authors); dry out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “drying out.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/drying_out. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.