dry spell
dry spell — noun
1. a stretch of time during which there is little or no rainfall, often causing the
a stretch of time during which there is little or no rainfall, often causing the ground to dry out and plants to suffer.
The farmers in Isabela's village worried about their crops after a three-month dry spell.
collocation: [number]‑month/year dry spell
During the dry spell, the river shrunk so much that children could walk across it.
collocation: during the dry spell
Reema checked the weather forecast every morning, hoping the dry spell would end.
A long dry spell in the region forced many cattle farmers to sell their animals.
The dry spell finally broke when heavy rain poured down over the weekend.
- drought
stronger — implies a severe, often damaging lack of water over a wide area
- dry period
more neutral and less idiomatic than 'dry spell'
- drought conditions
used in official or scientific reports
- wet spell
a period of unusually frequent rain
- rainy season
the predictable annual period of heavy rain in some climates
文法句型
a [length] dry spell
dry spell of [time period]
用法筆記
Frequently used with time-length adjectives such as "long", "prolonged", or "two‑month" before the noun.
常見錯誤
2. a stretch in which a person, team, or organisation cannot produce the successful
a stretch in which a person, team, or organisation cannot produce the successful results they would normally achieve.
After two losing seasons, the basketball team ended their dry spell with a win.
collocation: end a dry spell
Asher went through a dry spell at work with no new clients for months.
Hana applied to ten jobs before her dry spell ended with two offers.
The actor's career dry spell lasted nearly two years until he landed a lead role.
The company's dry spell in sales worried the shareholders at the annual meeting.
- slump
more common in sports and business; suggests a drop from a previous higher level
- rough patch
more informal and broader in meaning
- losing streak
used mainly in competitive contexts like sports or gambling
- winning streak
a series of consecutive successes
- hot streak
informal — a period of unusually good performance
文法句型
[possessive] dry spell
[noun] dry spell
用法筆記
Often used with a possessive noun ("the team's dry spell", "her career dry spell") or a noun modifier ("a sales dry spell", "a goal-scoring dry spell").