dry
When used as an adjective, "dry" most commonly refers to a lack of water, but it is frequently used metaphorically to describe people or styles of speaking that are not emotional. In the context of humor, "dry wit" means the person is being funny without showing obvious emotion or laughing at their own jokes. When using "dry" as a verb, remember that transitive use requires an object (e.g., "dry the hair"), while intransitive use describes something happening on its own (e.g., "the clothes dry").
💬Casual Conversation
🎬Tuesday afternoon, Sarah is hiding in the breakroom to avoid her boss.
Jessica
Did David actually send those notes or was he just being dry again?
Sarah
Total radio silence. He's just messing with me.
💡
Jessica uses 'dry' to describe David's lack of warmth or detail in communication (definition 2). Sarah responds with the idiom 'radio silence', meaning a complete lack of communication, reflecting their shared frustration with their boss.