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

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Etymology

Origin of Sahara

From Arabic ṣaḥra (plural ṣaḥārā ) “desert”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Sahara

Western Sahara, on Africa's north-west coast, was a Spanish colony until 1975.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

They also hope to persuade Algiers to accept Moroccan rule over Western Sahara.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

The United Nations' top official for refugees warned on Friday that conditions for long-displaced people in Western Sahara were getting worse and that their humanitarian needs were starkly underfunded.

From Barron's ● Sep. 25, 2026

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

Whites, ranging from Egyptians and Libyans to Moroccans, occupied Africa’s north coastal zone and the northern Sahara.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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