dry
( continued )
dehydrated
desiccated
dried
parched
duplicate
congruent
exact
identical
true
removed as a way of preserving them: dried beef; dried peas; dried apricots. In some cases, preparation involves restoring water to the product, as with peas; in other cases, the food is used as it is. Dehydrated is a more formal and technical term for the same idea, although it more often applies, in this sense, to foods that have not only been dried, but powdered as well: dehydrated milk; dehydrated eggs. In other senses, the word can indicate an unwanted loss of moisture: a fever that had caused his body to become dangerously dehydrated. Parched is a much less formal term that concentrates exclusively on this last possibility of dehydrated, referring to an undesirable or uncomfortable lack of or need for water: the parched, drought-stricken countryside; He had gulped down the last of the water in his canteen, but still felt parched with thirst.
Crisp applies almost exclusively to brittle or shriveled solids, particularly those in thin sheets or layers. Also, the word suggests that this dry, brittle state has been arrived at by heating or cooking: crisp potato chips; the steak she had burned to a crisp. This is not always true, however: crisp autumn leaves. Dehumidified is comparable to dehydrated in formality and would seem identical in meaning, but whereas dehydrated applies to solids, dehumidified most often applies exclusively to atmosphere: the amount of dehumidified air that an air conditioner can put out. Desiccated can function as a much more formal substitute for dried: desiccated yeast. Here, it compares to dehydrated in suggesting a powdered substance. Much more often, however, the word is used in metaphorical ways, suggesting something wasted, old, dried-up, lifeless, or dull: the desiccated old fuddy-duddy. Dry and crisp also have metaphorical uses. Crisp can suggest a brusque, sharp, or efficient manner: She rejected his proposal with a crisp remark; the crisp smile of the airline stewardess. Dry has an extremely wide range of metaphorical uses. It can indicate anything droll, boring, or lacking in humor: a dry remark, given with a deadpan expression; a dry book. The word can also refer to an alcoholic drink that is free of sweetness: a dry martini. See hot, sterile.
Antonyms: damp, deliquescent, moist, soggy, wet.
These adjectives refer to copies that are replicas of one another or reproductions of an original. Duplicate designates a copy that is just like another or others. It may indicate two corresponding copies, one of which is a second or extra copy: duplicate receipts, the original retained by the bank, the carbon returned to the depositor. Or it may apply to multiple copies that look exactly alike: a dozen duplicate prints of a photograph. A duplicate copy may be made with or from an original, as by use of carbon paper or a duplicating machine; or it may be made from a pattern, as a stencil, negative, or engraved metal plate: duplicate copies of a letter; duplicate copies of a book. At one extreme, duplicate designates a replica that is virtually indistinguishable from the original: a duplicate key. At the other extreme, it may indicate simply an accurate copy made at the same time or in the same form as the first: a duplicate copy of an income-tax report, kept for the taxpayer’s personal records.
Like a duplicate copy, an exact copy or true copy is made from an original. But exact and true stress strict substantive accuracy and may or may not indicate correspondence in form. Exact implies a precise reproduction of all details in a standard or model. [Writing painstakingly in longhand, the student made an exact copy of the printed poem;
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By means of the photocopying process, one can make an exact reproduction of the printed page.] True indicates absolute accuracy in reproduction, conformity to fact, and consequent validity. It stresses content rather than form. [The college registrar certified the transcript as a true copy of the student’s record; The Director of Vital Statistics certified that the birth registration card was a true copy of facts recorded on the birth record.]
Identical is applied to copies that are just like one another or that seem to be exactly alike. It is the strongest of these words and implies correspondence in every detail. [So far as an untrained eye could tell, the reproduction was identical to the designer’s original.] Where a duplicate copy is clearly secondary, though it may be exact, identical implies equality, indicating mutual likeness: two women wearing identical dresses; identical prints made from a woodblock; Your pen is identical to mine. In plane geometry, congruent refers to figures that are identical in shape and size, filling exactly the same space. Triangles are congruent if every point of one can be brought into correspondence with every point of the other in space, so that the flat figures would coincide exactly if they were superimposed. See accurate, copy.
Antonyms: contrasted, different, dissimilar, faulty.
These words refer to a state of extreme readiness and interest in some prospective action or subject, suggesting one’s willingness to become involved in it. Eager may suggest a general thirst for experience of all kinds or an intense interest of a more specific nature: young, eager students ready to take on the world; eager for his first look around Paris. While the word most often suggests a period before involvement is possible, it may also describe the intensity of involvement itself: an eager lover. Intent relates to this last possibility of eager, suggesting an undivided concentration on the activity itself: intent on the book he was reading. It may also suggest a purposeful and determined search for something that interests one: intent on finding the cafe he had read about in magazines.
Avid and desirous both pertain mostly to the period before involvement. Both may refer to an intense longing or craving, but desirous might now seem old-fashioned or archaic-sounding to many: desirous of her hand in marriage. Avid still retains its forcefulness as an intensification of eager, suggesting a craving on the point of desperation: avid for news of the city; the avid reader of pornography. Like eager, it may also describe actual involvement, but again with greater intensity: He dispatched the meal with a series of avid gulps.
Keen and enthusiastic both may suggest an extreme likin g for or approval of something. Keen best describes eager involvement: children who watched the clowns with keen delight. Much more informally, the word indicates a special liking or appetite for something: keen on mystery stories. Enthusiastic is unique among these words in applying mostly to participation rather than expectation, or to a favorable verdict on something already experienced or proposed. For example, a person
eager
avid
desirous
enthusiastic
intent
keen
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