Sahara

American  

[suh-har-uh, -hair-uh, -hahr-uh] / səˈhær ə, -ˈhɛər ə, -ˈhɑr ə /

noun

1. a desert in northern Africa, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Nile valley. About 3,500,000 square miles (9,065,000 square kilometers).

2. any arid waste.

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Sahara British  

/ səˈhɑːrə /

noun

1. a desert in N Africa, extending from the Atlantic to the Red Sea and from the Mediterranean to central Mali, Niger, Chad, and the Sudan: the largest desert in the world, occupying over a quarter of Africa; rises to over 3300 m (11 000 ft) in the central mountain system of the Ahaggar and Tibesti massifs; large reserves of iron ore, oil, and natural gas. Area: 9 100 000 sq km (3 500 000 sq miles). Average annual rainfall: less than 254 mm (10 in.). Highest recorded temperature: 58°C (136.4°F)

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Sahara Cultural  

1. Desert in northern Africa.

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Discover More

At approximately 3.5 million square miles, it is the world's largest desert.

Other Word Forms

• Saharan
  adjective
• Saharian
  adjective
• trans-Sahara
  adjective
• trans-Saharan
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Sahara

From Arabic ṣaḥra (plural ṣaḥārā ) “desert”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Sahara

Remittances flowed into remote villages where the most reliable way to reinvest the windfall was to send another family member across the Sahara.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

This happened in 2021, after Spain allowed a pro-independence leader from Western Sahara to get treatment in a Spanish hospital.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Whether you were in France, the Sahara Desert or Chile, the sky "would no longer be clear, resembling instead the sky seen in the suburbs of a city," he warned.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

Instead, some 80% of Western Sahara is occupied and administered by Morocco, its northern neighbour.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

In the Sahara they’ll fester and rot and fall out of your head.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

Related Words

• wilderness