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desert

¹ American  

[dez-ert] / ˈdɛz ərt /

noun

1. 

   a region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all.

   The Sahara is a vast sandy desert.

   Synonyms:

   wasteland, waste

2. any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil.

   Synonyms:

   wasteland

3. an area of the ocean in which it is believed no marine life exists.

4. (formerly) any unsettled area between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains thought to be unsuitable for human habitation.

5. any place lacking in something.

   The town was a cultural desert.

   Synonyms:

   wasteland

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or like a desert.

   a desert landscape.

   Synonyms:

   arid, infertile, barren, desolate

2. occurring, living, or flourishing in the desert.

   a desert tribe; a desert palm.

3. designed or suitable for wear in the desert, as cool, protective clothing.

   a big, wide-brimmed desert hat.

desert ² American  

[dih-zurt] / dɪˈzɜrt /

verb (used with object)

• deserts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• deserted,
  past participle,  past
• deserting
  present participle

1. to leave (a person, place, etc.) without intending to return, especially in violation of a duty, promise, or the like.

   He deserted his wife.

   Synonyms:

   forsake, quit, leave, abandon

2. (of military personnel) to leave or run away from (service, duty, etc.) with the intention of never returning.

   Terrified of the approaching battle, he deserted his post just before dawn.

3. to fail (someone) at a time of need.

   None of his friends had deserted him.

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verb (used without object)

• deserts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• deserted,
  past participle,  past
• deserting
  present participle

1. to forsake or leave one's duty, obligations, etc. (sometimes followed by from, to, etc.).

   Many deserted during the food shortage.

   Synonyms:

   resign, abdicate

2. (of military personnel) to leave service, duty, etc., with no intention of returning.

   Troops were deserting to the enemy.

   Synonyms:

   go AWOL

desert ³ American  

[dih-zurt] / dɪˈzɜrt /

noun

1. Usually deserts reward or punishment that is deserved.

   Death was his desert.

   Synonyms:

   justice, reward, recompense, payment, due, penalty, retribution, retaliation

2. the state or fact of deserving reward or punishment.

3. the state or condition of being worthy, as in character or behavior.

   Synonyms:

   worth, virtue, merit

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idioms

1. get / receive / etc. one's (just) deserts, to be punished or rewarded in a manner appropriate to one's actions or behavior.

   Some people felt he had gotten his just deserts, having been imprisoned and relieved of his ill-gotten gains, but others would have preferred old-style public flogging, followed by drawing and quartering, and who can blame them?

desert ¹ British  

/ dɪˈzɜːt /

noun

1. (often plural) something that is deserved or merited; just reward or punishment

2. the state of deserving a reward or punishment

3. virtue or merit

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desert ² British  

/ dɪˈzɜːt /

verb

1. (tr) to leave or abandon (a person, place, etc) without intending to return, esp in violation of a duty, promise, or obligation

2. military to abscond from (a post or duty) with no intention of returning

3. (tr) to fail (someone) in time of need

   his good humour temporarily deserted him

4. (tr) Scots law to give up or postpone (a case or charge)

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desert ³ British  

/ ˈdɛzət /

noun

1. a region that is devoid or almost devoid of vegetation, esp because of low rainfall

2. an uncultivated uninhabited region

3. a place which lacks some desirable feature or quality

   a cultural desert

4. (modifier) of, relating to, or like a desert; infertile or desolate

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desert Scientific  

/ dĕz′ərt /

1. A large, dry, barren region, usually having sandy or rocky soil and little or no vegetation. Water lost to evaporation and transpiration in a desert exceeds the amount of precipitation; most deserts average less than 25 cm (9.75 inches) of precipitation each year, concentrated in short local bursts. Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface, with the principal warm deserts located mainly along the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where warm, rising equatorial air masses that have already lost most of their moisture descend over the subtropical regions. Cool deserts are located at higher elevations in the temperate regions, often on the lee side of a barrier mountain range where the prevailing winds drop their moisture before crossing the range.

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desert More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing desert

• just deserts

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Synonym Usage

Desert, waste, wilderness refer to areas that are largely uninhabited. Desert emphasizes lack of water (though not specifically high temperature); it refers to a dry, barren, treeless region, usually sandy: a high-altitude frozen desert. Waste emphasizes lack of inhabitants and of cultivation; it is used of wild, barren land: a desolate waste. Wilderness emphasizes the difficulty of finding one's way, whether because of barrenness or of dense vegetation: a trackless wilderness.

Desert, abandon, forsake mean to leave behind persons, places, or things. Desert implies intentionally violating an oath, formal obligation, or duty: to desert campaign pledges. Abandon suggests giving up wholly and finally, whether of necessity, unwillingly, or through shirking responsibilities: to abandon a hopeless task; abandon a child. Forsake has emotional connotations, since it implies violating obligations of affection or association: to forsake a noble cause.

Desert, merit, worth refer to the quality in a person, action, or thing that entitles recognition, especially favorable recognition. Desert is the quality that entitles one to a just reward: according to her deserts. Merit is usually the excellence that entitles to praise: a person of great merit. Worth is always used in a favorable sense and signifies inherent value or goodness: The worth of your contribution is incalculable.

Closer Look

A desert is defined not by temperature but by the sparse amount of water found in a region. An area with an annual rainfall of fewer than 25 centimeters (9.75 inches) generally qualifies as a desert. In spite of the dryness, however, some animals and plants have adapted to desert life and thrive in these harsh environments. While different animals live in different types of deserts, the dominant animals of warm deserts are reptiles, including snakes and lizards, small mammals, such as ground squirrels and mice, and arthropods, such as scorpions and beetles. These animals are usually nocturnal, spending the day resting in the shade of plants or burrowed in the ground, and emerging in the evenings to hunt or eat. Warm-desert plants are mainly ground-hugging shrubs, small wooded trees, and cacti. Plant and animal life is scarcer in the cool desert, where the precipitation falls mainly as snow. Plants are generally scattered mosses and grasses that are able to survive the cold by remaining low to the ground, avoiding the wind, and animal life can include both large and small mammals, such as deer and jackrabbits, as well as a variety of raptors and other birds.

Pop Culture

— Desert : A novel by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008. The book, first published in French in 1980, was translated into English in 2009. — Operation Desert Storm: An air campaign by the U.S. during the 1990–91 Gulf War. — Conflict: Desert Storm: The first in the Conflict series of video games by game developers Pivotal Games. Released in 2002, it is set during the 1990–91 Gulf War.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• desertedness
  noun
• deserter
  noun
• deserted
  adjective
• desertic
  adjective
• desertlike
  adjective
• desertedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• deserting
  present
• deserted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• desert
  simple
• deserts
  simple
• have deserted
  perfect
• has deserted
  perfect
• am deserting
  progressive
• are deserting
  progressive
• is deserting
  progressive
• have been deserting
  perfect progressive
• has been deserting
  perfect progressive

Past

• deserted
  simple
• had deserted
  perfect
• was deserting
  progressive
• were deserting
  progressive
• had been deserting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will desert
  simple
• will have deserted
  perfect
• will be deserting
  progressive
• will have been deserting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of desert¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English adjective desert, deserd, diserte “barren, unproductive, dried up (lake), deserted (city),” from Anglo-French, Old French des(s)ert “uncultivated; without inhabitants,” from Late Latin dēsertum (neuter), noun use of past participle of Latin dēserere “to abandon, forsake,” equivalent to dē- prefix meaning “from, away from, out of ” + serere “to join together (in a line)”; see origin at de-, series

Origin of desert²

First recorded in 1470–80; from Middle French déserter, from Medieval Latin dēsertāre “to desert; lay waste,” frequentative of Latin dēserere “to part company, leave, forsake,” literally “to undo the links,” equivalent to dē- prefix meaning “from, away from” + serere “to link together, entwine, interlace”; see also desert ¹

Origin of desert³

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English noun desert, deseert, decert(e), from Old French deserte, noun use of feminine past participle of deservir “to serve devotedly”; see origin at deserve

Explanation

A desert is a very dry area of land where few plants and animals can live. If you find yourself stranded in the middle of the desert, you'll have no company except for the occasional lizard or scorpion. Desert comes from the Latin desertus, for abandoned or lying in waste. This can refer to a vast sandy area without vegetation, or any empty, lifeless expanse. As a verb, it means to leave someone or something. A soldier who runs away from the army is called a deserter. Occasionally you'll hear someone say, "He got his just deserts," which doesn't have anything to do with abandonment; it means he got what he deserved.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

desert deserts deserted deserting

It is a mosaic of subcultures: fishermen in coastal towns, hipsters in Portland, hippies in Eugene, hikers in Bend, farmers in the Willamette Valley, loggers in timber towns and cowboys in Eastern Oregon’s high desert.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

But planes and helicopters needed to evacuate became stuck in the desert sand and needed to be destroyed while special forces awaited a backup rescue crew.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

There is a “trash fence,” a 4-foot-high, 9.2-mile-long orange plastic barrier, according to SF Gate, that blocks the trash from blowing away in the desert.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

In July 1954, under Eisenhower, 88 workers died of sunstroke in the desert below Calexico, where they’d been deported.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Its gold garlands and sparkling jewels advertised the promise of a desert world.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Julian joins the Air Force out of boredom and deserts for the same reason.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The findings come as ministers have pledged to tackle so-called "dental deserts", but dentists say the current deal is not viable.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

The view changes as the ship’s pilots deftly navigate worlds — or at least try to — like the metropolis of Coruscant and the deserts of Tatooine.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

Today, many of the best places to conduct this work are deserts or Arctic landscapes.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

First, in the deserts and veldts arose oral culture, the culture of the spoken word.

From "Feed" by M.T. Anderson

But this isn’t just a deserted patch of sand.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

“The Dog Stars” takes place in a wrecked, deserted 2035, after a viral plague has killed almost everybody on Earth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

He has strained his eyes writing stories in the dark in a deserted gym.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

AFP saw walkways, sun loungers and a restaurant terrace at the hotel deserted.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

The place is deserted, so we start doing crazy stuff.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

But a major reason for voters deserting the party in past elections was inflation, an unwelcome phenomenon for households after several decades of stable or falling prices.

From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026

Despite losing his beloved horse, he told the BBC in 2011 - on the 30th anniversary of Shergar's biggest triumph - that he did not contemplate deserting his Irish breeding operation.

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2025

But the Syrian army collapsed with surprising ease, with many troops deserting the battlefield, in the face of the HTS rebels’ onslaught.

From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2024

He treats his troops abominably, whether he’s deserting them in Egypt, condemning them to a death march through a Russian winter or sending them into the hopeless onslaught of Waterloo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

“Darling, please be sensible. It’s not deserting from the army. It’s only the Italian army.”

From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

Related Words

• betray
• bolt
• depart
• escape
• flee
• forsake
• give up
• quit
• vacate