How to Use dry run in a Sentence

dry run

noun
  • We did a dry run of the experiment.
  • After several dry runs, she was ready to give the speech.
  • So, consider today a dry run of what will ultimately occur when the war winds down.
    — Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 31 Mar. 2026
  • In short, the conflict contained a dry run for a potential chemical attack.
    — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 29 Dec. 2025
  • The younger Harrison has already experienced this Indiana trip, a dry run of sorts.
    — Doug Haller, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Even if the sun stays quiet through the flight, the Artemis II crew will conduct a shelter-building dry run on day 8 of the mission.
    — Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 31 Mar. 2026
  • In March, the team did a large-scale dry run of the dispersal at an open air testing facility on a naval base in New Jersey.
    — ArsTechnica, 11 Aug. 2025
  • Part of the current crew’s mission was to serve as a dry run and scouting party, examining geology and topography.
    — Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026
  • As part of its dry run at Mars, the spacecraft will also practice hunting for faint circumplanetary rings of dust that might originate from the planet’s small moons and be backlit by the sun into clearer visibility.
    — Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 14 May 2026
  • Trump sent 755 Homeland Security agents to defend federal property in what would come to be seen as a dry run for much larger operations of his second term.
    — Andrea Castillo, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2026
  • The man tried a dry run on rear-ending the police SUV before hitting the SUV with an officer inside, according to the county sheriff and video.
    — Christina Hall, Freep.com, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Even the smallest components are painted or treated to ensure maximum longevity, while final assembly (carried out after at least one dry run) aims for millimeter-perfect panel gaps, impeccable door closure, and a rattle-free ride.
    — Simon De Burton, Robb Report, 1 Apr. 2026
  • The makers did two test runs with a replica of identical size and weight to the tapestry, one in a Mercedes truck from Bayeux to London, in a secret February dry run, another in public in April.
    — Brian Boucher, ARTnews.com, 4 June 2026
  • In retrospect, Kinetta feels like a dry run for Lanthimos, with all the droll affectation of his later provocations but little of the allegorical power or lunatic comedy that would distinguish them.
    — A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025
  • UAGateway’s principal, Kristina Dvorakovskaya, had conducted a dry run in which the staff figured out how to, in an emergency, redistribute 400 phones in about five minutes.
    — Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Israel has intermittently launched such long-range airstrikes since July 2024, after a Houthi drone hit Tel Aviv, in combat missions that, especially in retrospect, served as dry runs for the June air war against Iran.
    — Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
  • One fear is that these pipeline problems are not merely a Golden State issue—that California’s primary is a (very) dry run for the Democrats’ path to higher leadership, and specifically the great big beautiful office that will open in 2029.
    — Nathan Heller, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
  • Safety officials at the stadium, meanwhile, used last summer’s Gold Cup soccer match between Mexico and Honduras as a security dry run for next summer’s FIFA men’s World Cup.
    — Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dry run.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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