Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Dried up, completely dry: Describes something that has lost all moisture or water content, often due to natural conditions like drought or evaporation.
   • Exhausted, depleted (figurative): Used metaphorically to describe resources, emotions, or inspiration that have been completely used up or have run out.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Sau đợt hạn hán kéo dài, con sông đã hoàn toàn khô cạn. (After the prolonged drought, the river has completely dried up.)
  • Cảm hứng sáng tạo của anh ấy dường như đã khô cạn. (His creative inspiration seems to have dried up.)
  • Nguồn tài nguyên thiên nhiên không phải là vô tận và có thể bị khô cạn. (Natural resources are not infinite and can be depleted.)

Advanced Usage

• "khô cạn nước mắt": to have no tears left (to cry); to be emotionally drained.

  • Sau nhiều ngày đau buồn, cô ấy đã khô cạn nước mắt. (After many days of grief, she had no tears left to cry.)

• "khô cạn ý tưởng": to run out of ideas; to have a creative block.

  • Nhà văn cảm thấy khô cạn ý tưởng cho cuốn tiểu thuyết mới. (The writer felt he had run out of ideas for his new novel.)

Variants and Related Words

• Khô (adj): dry. A more general term for a lack of moisture.

  • quần áo khô (dry clothes)

• Cạn (adj): shallow; depleted, run out. Often used for liquids.

  • ly cạn (an empty glass)
  • cạn kiệt (to be exhausted/depleted - stronger connotation than "khô cạn")

• Hạn hán (n): drought. The condition that often causes things to become "khô cạn".

  • đợt hạn hán nghiêm trọng (a severe drought)

Synonyms

• Cạn kiệt: exhausted, depleted (often for resources).
• Hết sạch: all gone, used up.
• Tắt ngấm: dried up, extinguished (can be used for water sources or figuratively).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

Note: As "khô cạn" is an adjective, it does not form phrasal verbs. It can be part of verb phrases. - Làm khô cạn: to dry up, to deplete. - Mặt trời làm khô cạn những vũng nước. (The sun dries up the puddles.)

Related Idioms

• Cạn tàu ráo máng: (literally: the rice container and water trough are empty) to be completely broke or to have exhausted all resources.
  • Sau chuyến đi dài, chúng tôi gần như cạn tàu ráo máng. (After the long trip, we were almost completely broke.)

1. Dried up, affectedby drought
   • Hạn hán mấy tuần các cánh đồng đều khô cạn
     The fields were dry after many weeks of drought