desertnoun [ C or U ]
uk/ˈdez.ət/us/ˈdez.ɚt/A2 an area, often covered with sand or rocks, where there is very little rain and not many plants:
a place that is considered to have no cultural, intellectual, etc. quality or interest:
More examples
- The flatness of the desert was broken only by a few large piles of rocks.
- She gave a hair-raising account of her escape through the desert.
- Living rough in the desert hardened the recruits a lot.
- The terrorists assumed control of the plane and forced it to land in the desert.
- At night, adult scorpions prowl the desert for insects.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Geography: deserts, prairies & wildernesses
- bush
- Bushman
- common
- dust bowl
- marginal land
- moor
- moorland
- pampas
- pasture
- plain
- scrub
- steppe
- sward
- tall-grass prairie
- the outback
- tundra
- undeveloped
- waste
- wasteland
- wild
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
desertverb
uk/dɪˈzɜːt/us/dɪˈzɝːt/desert verb (RUN AWAY)
[ I or T ] to leave the armed forces without permission and with no intention of returning:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Joining or leaving the army
- buy
- buy yourself out
- call sb up
- call-up
- cashier
- commission
- demob
- demobilize
- deserter
- desertion
- draft
- draft dodger
- draftee
- enlist
- enlisted
- join
- join up
- recruit
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
desert verb (LEAVE BEHIND)
[ T ] to leave someone without help or in a difficult situation and not come back:
[ T ] If a quality deserts you, you suddenly and temporarily lose it:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Departing
- abandon
- absquatulate
- backward
- be ready to roll idiom
- bog
- desertion
- drive
- go down
- hit
- piss
- push along
- push off
- ready
- road
- run
- run away
- sally
- walk off (somewhere)
- walk out
- without (so much as) a backward glance idiom
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics: