DESERT

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does desert mean? 

• DESERT (noun)
  The noun DESERT has 2 senses:

1. arid land with little or no vegetation

2. (usually plural) a person's deservingness of or entitlement to reward or punishment

  Familiarity information: DESERT used as a noun is rare.

• DESERT (verb)
  The verb DESERT has 3 senses:

1. leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

2. desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army

3. leave behind

  Familiarity information: DESERT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DESERT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arid land with little or no vegetation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("desert" is a kind of...):

biome (a major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate)

parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)

Meronyms (parts of "desert"):

oasis (a fertile tract in a desert (where the water table approaches the surface))

Instance hyponyms:

Ar Rimsal; Dahna; Great Sandy Desert; Rub al-Khali (a desert in southern Saudi Arabia)

Libyan Desert (the northeastern part of the Sahara Desert in Libya and Egypt and Sudan)

Mohave; Mohave Desert; Mojave; Mojave Desert (a desert area in southern California and western Arizona)

Namib Desert (a desert in Namibia extending along the coast between the high plateau and the Atlantic Ocean)

An Nafud; An Nefud; Nafud; Nefud (a desert in northern Saudi Arabia that is noted for its red sand and violent winds)

Negev; Negev Desert (a desert in southern Israel)

Nubian Desert (an arid sandstone plateau in northeastern Sudan between the Nile and the Red Sea)

Painted Desert (a desert on a high plateau in northeastern Arizona)

Patagonian Desert (a semiarid region in southern South America)

Arabian Desert; Eastern Desert (a desert in Egypt between the Nile River and the Red Sea)

Sahara; Sahara Desert (the world's largest desert (3,500,000 square miles) in northern Africa)

Simpson Desert (a desert region of central Australia)

Sinai; Sinai Desert (a desert on the Sinai Peninsula in northeastern Egypt)

Sonoran Desert (a desert in southwestern Arizona)

Syrian Desert (a desert of northern Arabia occupying western Iraq, southern Syria, eastern Jordan, and northern Saudi Arabia)

Taklamakan Desert; Taklimakan Desert (a desert in western China)

Great Indian Desert; Thar Desert (a desert to the east of the Indus River in northwestern India and southeastern Pakistan)

Kara Kum; Qara Qum; Turkestan Desert (a desert in Turkmenistan to the south of the Aral Sea)

Arabian Desert; Great Arabian Desert (a desert on the Arabian Peninsula in southwestern Asia)

Atacama Desert (a desert in western Chile that extends roughly 600 miles south from the Peruvian border; one of the driest areas in the world, but rich in nitrate and copper deposits)

Australian Desert; Great Australian Desert (general name given to all desert areas in Australia)

Black Rock Desert (a desert in northwestern Nevada)

Chihuahuan Desert (a desert in western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico)

Colorado Desert (an arid region of southeastern California)

Dasht-e-Kavir; Great Salt Desert; Kavir Desert (a salt desert in north central Iran)

Dasht-e-Lut; Lut Desert (a desert in eastern Iran)

Death Valley (a desert area that is part of the Mojave Desert in eastern California and southwestern Nevada; contains the lowest point in North America)

Gibson Desert (a desert area in western Australia)

Gila Desert (a desert area in southern Arizona)

Gobi; Gobi Desert (a desert in central China)

Great Sandy Desert (a desert region in northwestern Australia to the north of the Gibson Desert)

Great Victoria Desert (a desert region in south central Australia to the north of the Nullarbor Plain)

Kalahari; Kalahari Desert (a desert in southwestern Africa - largely Botswana)

Kizil Kum; Kyzyl Kum; Qizil Qum (a desert in Uzbekistan to the southeast of the Aral Sea)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(usually plural) a person's deservingness of or entitlement to reward or punishment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("desert" is a kind of...):

deservingness; merit; meritoriousness (the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance))

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

• DESERT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they desert ... he / she / it deserts
Past simple: deserted   
Past participle: deserted   
-ing form: deserting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

abandon; desert; desolate; forsake

Context example:

The mother deserted her children

Hypernyms (to "desert" is one way to...):

leave (go and leave behind, either intentionally or by neglect or forgetfulness)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "desert"):

expose (abandon by leaving out in the open air)

walk out (leave suddenly, often as an expression of disapproval)

ditch (forsake)

maroon; strand (leave stranded or isolated with little hope of rescue)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot desert Sue

Derivation:

deserter (a person who abandons their duty (as on a military post))

deserter (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.)

desertion (withdrawing support or help despite allegiance or responsibility)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

defect; desert

Context example:

If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot

Hypernyms (to "desert" is one way to...):

flee; fly; take flight (run away quickly)

"Desert" entails doing...:

dissent; protest; resist (express opposition through action or words)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "desert"):

rat (desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

deserter (a person who abandons their duty (as on a military post))

deserter (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.)

desertion (the act of giving something up)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Leave behind

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

the students deserted the campus after the end of exam period

Hypernyms (to "desert" is one way to...):

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In truth, the wind, though it was low, had a solemn sound, and crept around the deserted house with a whispered wailing that was very mournful.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There may have been certain environmental features, such as deserts, large waterways and/or mountain ranges, that would have limited the movement of animals and promoted the evolution of regionally distinct faunas.

(Paleontologists discover new species of titanosaurian dinosaur in Tanzania, NSF)

Well, Bill had deserted him; but he would not take the gold, nor would he suck Bill's bones.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The seals had started on their great southern migration, and the rookery was practically deserted.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Yet, just as Voyager found, when it comes to the vapor form of this chemical, CIRS reported that Titan's stratosphere is as dry as a desert.

(Scientists Find 'Impossible' Cloud on Titan, NASA)

Earlier this year, the research team successfully grew and harvested the salt-resistant rice in a Dubai desert.

(Saltwater Rice Successfully Harvested by Chinese Scientists, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Sutherland?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So I believe the best way to get across the desert will be through the air.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)