desert
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Arid land with little or no vegetation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehzertSay the bold part a little louder.
noun: dezertverb: dihzurt
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛzɚt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Arid land with little or no vegetation
A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
In particular, a barren, arid area of land which is hot, with sandy, rocky, or parched ground.
figuratively
Any barren place or situation.
verb
To leave (anything that depends on one's presence to survive, exist, or succeed), especially when contrary to a promise or obligation; to abandon; to forsake.
Leave behind
“The students deserted the campus after the end of exam period.”
adjective
Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Arid land with little or no vegetation
Used this way, desert is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use desert
- “The mother deserted her children.”verb
- “The students deserted the campus after the end of exam period.”verb
- “If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Handsome low saltbush of arid southwestern United States and Mexico having blue-green prickly-edged leaves often used for Christmas decoration.
Small long-tailed lizard of arid areas of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Of deserts of northern Africa and southern Asia.
Mariposa with clusters of bell-shaped vermilion or orange or yellow flowers atop short stems.
Spiny branching deciduous shrub of southwestern United States having clusters of insignificant yellow-white flowers appearing before leaves followed by attractive black berrylike fruits.
Most common paintbrush of western United States dry lands.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The gradual transformation of habitable land into desert.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.