deserts

Noun (1)

desert (countable and uncountable, plural deserts)

1. A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
   • And ye poore Pilgrimes, that vvith reſtleſſe toyle
     VVearie your ſelues in vvandring deſert vvayes […]1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard,Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier....
   1. In particular, a barren, arid area of land which is hot, with sandy, rocky, or parched ground.
      • It is wholly out of the power of language to convey any idea of the blissful enjoyment of obtaining water, after an almost total want of it, during eight and forty hours, in the scorching regions of an Arabian desert, in the month of July.1805 December, Julius Griffiths, “A Journey across the Desert”, in The Monthly Mirror, page 362
2. (figuratively) Any barren place or situation.
   • He declared that the country was an intellectual desert; that he was famishing for spiritual aliment, and for discourse on matters beyond mere nuggets, prospectings, and the price of gold.1858, William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria, page 54

Noun (2)

desert (plural deserts)

1. (in plural, often, now chiefly technical (in philosophy) or fossil) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward.
   • just deserts

   Synonyms:

   comeuppance

See all 7 meanings of desert