Sahara
Americannoun
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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).
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any arid waste.
noun
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At approximately 3.5 million square miles, it is the world's largest desert.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Sahara
From Arabic ṣaḥra (plural ṣaḥārā ) “desert”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Zuma undertook the trip as MK leader but was pictured in front of the South African flag when he met Morocco's foreign minister and brought up Western Sahara.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 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
Polisario guerillas fought a long war with Morocco over independence of the Western Sahara region.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
I know Sahara probably wonders why we always go to her house instead of mine, but she never asks.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.