1
: grocery items (such as tobacco, sugar, flour, and coffee) that do not contain liquid
2
: textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and notions as distinguished especially from hardware and groceries

Examples of dry goods in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Before buying Shillito’s, Macy’s was R.H. Macy & Co., a dry goods store in New York City. Emily Steinberger, Fortune, 4 July 2025 Free food: Receive dry goods and fresh produce at this walk-up distribution offered by Feeding San Diego at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 16 at the Poway Library, 13137 Poway Road. Pomerado News, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 July 2025 The three-time Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter was also named after his paternal grandfather, who once operated a dry goods store on Third Street in Downtown Cincinnati, according to an Enquirer article from 1982. Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025 By contrast, the new system forces Gazans to walk long distances to reach isolated, heavily guarded sites where boxes of dry goods are left on trestle tables. Max Rodenbeck, Foreign Affairs, 25 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for dry goods

Word History

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of dry goods was in 1657

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Cite this Entry

“Dry goods.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dry%20goods. Accessed 16 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

dry goods

plural noun
: cloth goods (as fabrics, lace, and ribbon)

More from Merriam-Webster on dry goods

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