desert

1 of 4

noun (1)

des·ert ˈde-zərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

: 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 annually

: an area of water apparently devoid of life

: a desolate or forbidding area

lost in a desert of doubt

archaic : a wild uninhabited and uncultivated tract

desertic

de-ˈzər-tik How to pronounce desert (audio)

adjective

desertlike

ˈde-zərt-ˌlīk How to pronounce desert (audio)

adjective

desert

2 of 4

adjective

des·ert ˈde-zərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

: desolate and sparsely occupied or unoccupied

a desert island

: of or relating to a desert (see desert entry 1)

archaic : forsaken

desert

3 of 4

verb

de·sert di-ˈzərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

deserted; deserting; deserts

transitive verb

: to withdraw from or leave usually without intent to return

desert a town

: to leave in the lurch

desert a friend in trouble

: 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

desert

4 of 4

noun (2)

de·sert di-ˈzərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

: deserved reward or punishment

—usually used in plural

got their just deserts

: the quality or fact of meriting reward or punishment

: excellence, worth

Did you know?

Where does the phrase 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.

Example Sentences

Noun (1) 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 Adjective 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 Verb 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. See More

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1) and Adjective

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

Verb

French déserter, from Late Latin desertare, frequentative of Latin deserere

Noun (2)

Middle English deserte, from Anglo-French, from feminine of desert, past participle of deservir to deserve

First Known Use

Noun (1)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1603, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

desert 1 of 3

noun

des·ert ˈde-zərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

: a dry land with few plants and little rainfall

desert

2 of 3

noun

de·sert di-ˈzərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

: a reward or punishment that a person deserves

He got his just deserts.

desert

3 of 3

verb

de·sert di-ˈzərt How to pronounce desert (audio)

deserted; deserting

: to leave usually without intending to return The entire population deserted the town.

: to leave a person or a thing that one should stay with

The soldier did not desert his post.

: to fail in time of need

My courage deserted me.

单词	desertlike
释义	desert 1 of 4 noun (1) des·ert ˈde-zərt 1 : 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 annually 2 : an area of water apparently devoid of life 3 : a desolate or forbidding area lost in a desert of doubt 4 archaic : a wild uninhabited and uncultivated tract desertic de-ˈzər-tik adjective desertlike ˈde-zərt-ˌlīk adjective desert 2 of 4 adjective des·ert ˈde-zərt 1 : desolate and sparsely occupied or unoccupied a desert island 2 : of or relating to a desert (see desert entry 1) 3 archaic : forsaken desert 3 of 4 verb de·sert di-ˈzərt deserted; deserting; deserts transitive verb 1 : to withdraw from or leave usually without intent to return desert a town 2 a : to leave in the lurch desert a friend in trouble b : 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 desert 4 of 4 noun (2) de·sert di-ˈzərt 1 : deserved reward or punishment —usually used in plural got their just deserts 2 : the quality or fact of meriting reward or punishment 3 : excellence, worth Did you know? Where does the phrase 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. Synonyms Noun (1) barren desolation heath no-man's-land waste wasteland Verb defect (from) rat (on) Noun (2) castigation chastisement comeuppance correction discipline nemesis penalty punishment wrath See all Synonyms & Antonyms Example Sentences Noun (1) 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 Adjective 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 Verb 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. See More Word History Etymology Noun (1) and Adjective 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 Verb French déserter, from Late Latin desertare, frequentative of Latin deserere Noun (2) Middle English deserte, from Anglo-French, from feminine of desert, past participle of deservir to deserve First Known Use Noun (1) 13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Adjective 13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1 Verb 1603, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1 Noun (2) 13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2 Phrases Containing desert food desert desert varnish desert soil desert locust desert island desert tortoise food desert desert varnish desert soil desert locust desert island desert tortoise Kids Definition desert 1 of 3 noun des·ert ˈde-zərt : a dry land with few plants and little rainfall desert 2 of 3 noun de·sert di-ˈzərt : a reward or punishment that a person deserves He got his just deserts. desert 3 of 3 verb de·sert di-ˈzərt 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. desertlike adjective as in desert Synonyms & Similar Words Relevance desert desertic rainless xerothermic hyperarid sunbaked parched dehydrated baked arid droughty bone-dry waterless sere sear dry ultradry thirsty air-dry Antonyms & Near Antonyms moist wet damp humid dank saturated sodden soggy watery dripping waterlogged soaked watered bathed soaking drenched sopping washed flooded soppy awash drowned submerged overflowed doused hydrated inundated soused dowsed deluged swamped See More
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desert

noun (1)

adjective

verb

noun (2)

Did you know?

Synonyms

Example Sentences

Word History

Phrases Containing desert

Kids Definition

noun

noun

verb

adjective