Definition of desert
1a : arid land with usually sparse vegetation; especially : such land having a very warm climate and receiving less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of sporadic rainfall annuallyb : an area of water apparently devoid of life
2 archaic : a wild uninhabited and uncultivated tract
3 : a desolate or forbidding area lost in a desert of doubt
Indulge Your Inner Word Nerd
Examples of desert in a Sentence
Satellite images taken this year and 20 years ago show that the desert is in retreat thanks to a resurgence of trees. —Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, 14-20 Oct. 2006
The coastal plain is a desert in terms of precipitation—less than six inches fall annually—but what falls as snow stays to be later distributed by the wind. —John Hildebrand, Harper's, November 2003
The house finch, a songbird native to the Western desert, has proved to be highly adaptable, having rapidly colonized the Eastern states after its release on Long Island in the early 1940's. —Jane E. Brody, New York Times, 1 Jan. 2002
Where does the idiom just deserts come from?
Why do we say that someone has gotten their just deserts? Does this turn of phrase have anything to do with dessert (“a sweet food eaten at the end of a meal”) or desert (“a dry land with few plants and little rainfall”)? In fact, the phrase employs neither of these words. Instead, it uses a completely unrelated word that happens to be pronounced like the word for sweets and spelled like the one for a dry place: desert, meaning “reward or punishment deserved or earned by one’s qualities or acts.” This little-used noun is, as you might have guessed, related to the English verb deserve. It has nothing to do with arid, dry land, or with cookies and ice cream.
Origin and Etymology of desert
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin desertum, from Latin, neuter of desertus, past participle of deserere to desert, from de- + serere to join together — more at series
First Known Use: 13th century
Other Geology Terms
anthracite, boulder, cwm, erratic, igneous, intrusive, mesa, sedimentary, silt, swale
Examples of desert in a Sentence
While my very American mother swabbed the dishes, Dad lingered at the dinner table, recreating in visceral detail the taste of mint in a Bedouin teacup under a desert sky, or the golden plumage of his father's saluki dogs, or the filigreed robes of the young king at the camel races. —Diana Abu-Jaber, Vogue, May 2007
… the place in the Texas Panhandle where Highway 66 rolled down off the land of farms and ranches into the beginnings of the desert grassland and red-rock country that dominated New Mexico. —Susan Croce Kelly, Route 66, 1988
Origin and Etymology of desert
see 1desert
First Known Use: 13th century
Other Ecology Terms
Definition of desert
1 : the quality or fact of meriting reward or punishment
2 : deserved reward or punishment —usually used in plural got their just deserts
3 : excellence, worth
Origin and Etymology of desert
Middle English deserte, from Anglo-French, from feminine of desert, past participle of deservir to deserve
First Known Use: 13th century
Definition of desert
transitive verb
1 : to withdraw from or leave usually without intent to return desert a town
2a : to leave in the lurch desert a friend in troubleb : to abandon (military service) without leave
intransitive verb
: to quit one's post, allegiance, or service without leave or justification; especially : to abandon military duty without leave and without intent to return
deserter
nounExamples of desert in a Sentence
Boulet saw his longtime partner desert him in the midst of the storm, then had his wife and daughter skip town in its aftermath. —Mike Flaherty, TV Guide, 10-16 Sept. 2007
Left alone for a moment, he feels mournful, bereft—and then panicky, when he thinks he has been deserted again. —Richard Corliss, Time, 7 Mar. 2005
But now the building seemed deserted at two in the afternoon, and I soon learned that the paper, incredibly, was forced to advertise for applicants to the staff. —Arthur Miller, Timebends, 1987
The inhabitants had deserted the town.
She had been married for just over a year when her husband deserted her.
He was deserted by his friends and family.
Origin and Etymology of desert
French déserter, from Late Latin desertare, frequentative of Latin deserere
First Known Use: 1603
Synonym Discussion of desert
DESERT Defined for English Language Learners
desert
playDefinition of desert for English Language Learners
-
: to go away from (a place) : to leave (a place)
-
: to leave and stop helping or supporting (someone or something)
-
of a useful quality or ability : to no longer be with (someone) in a time of need
DESERT Defined for Kids
Definition of desert for Students
: a dry land with few plants and little rainfall
Definition of desert for Students
: a reward or punishment that a person deserves He got his just deserts.
Definition of desert for Students
deserted
;deserting
1 : to leave usually without intending to return The entire population deserted the town.
2 : to leave a person or a thing that one should stay with The soldier did not desert his post.
3 : to fail in time of need My courage deserted me.
deserter
nounHeadscratcher for desert
There are three words spelled desert. One means a dry land, one means what a person deserves, and one means to abandon a place or person. But none mean the goodies you eat after dinner—that's your dessert!
Learn More about desert
-
See words that rhyme with desert Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for desert Spanish Central: Translation of desert Nglish: Translation of desert for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of desert for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about desert
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up desert? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!