Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use desert in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective, verb

Desert means a barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland. Example: “They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.”

Examples of desert by meaning

nounAny barren place or situation.

  • By contrast, the WR route is an economic desert between Newbury and Taunton.1964 March, “News and Comment: Which way to the West?”, in Modern Railways, page 147
  • So the question that is commonly asked is, why put a media incubator in a media desert and have it managed by a civil servant?2006, Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls, page 34

adjectiveUsually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.

  • They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.

verbTo leave (anything that depends on one's presence to survive, exist, or succeed), especially when contrary to a promise...

  • You can't just drive off and desert me here, in the middle of nowhere.

verbTo leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.

  • Anyone found deserting will be punished.

nounThat which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward.

  • "It is true that certain common sense precepts of justice, particularly those which concern the protection of liberties and rights, or which express the claims of desert, seem to contradict this contention."1971, John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
  • What are the relevant grounds of merit or desert?"2009, Michael J. Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

More sentences with desert

  • Who can number all the stars and who can count the desert sands?From the entry number
  • The soldiers had to acclimatize before starting operations in the desert.From the entry acclimatize
  • The former politician was left out in the cold after his friends deserted him.From the entry cold
  • The desert stretched out toward the horizon as if into infinity.From the entry infinity
  • I don't have any bars in the middle of this desert.From the entry bar
  • The harsh desert wind and sand had chewed the stump into ragged strips of wood.From the entry chew
  • I was starving so I wrote S.O.S. on the desert island using rocks.From the entry starve
  • There is an inundation of tourists in summer, but in winter the town is almost deserted.From the entry inundation
  • The peculiarity of meeting six people on a usually deserted trail only struck me later on.From the entry peculiarity
  • If you go out in the desert for long without water, the thirst can drive you mad.From the entry thirst
  • The house was deserted, with a rancid half-eaten meal still on the dinner table.From the entry rancid
  • When traveling in the American Southwest, we avoid other people by boondocking in the desert.From the entry boondock
  • Their hastily fabricated Potemkin village was practically deserted, what with all the ghosting.From the entry ghosting
  • Washington is awfully deserted now that every congressman is out on the hustings.From the entry hustings
  • The waterless desert can kill in many ways but dehydration is often fastest.From the entry waterless
  • The scrubland I'd be crossing looked desolate, but at least it wasn't a desert.From the entry scrubland
  • Contrary to what you might think, Antarctica is technically a desert.From the entry contrary to
  • Hoo swebbed, all droked in sweat, frae the heat o' the desert sun.From the entry sweb
  • The Tarim mummies, found in present-day China, were anhydrated naturally by searing desert conditions.From the entry anhydrate
  • I was so overwhelmed my tongue deserted me.From the entry tongue
  • There's plenty of danger in the desert.From the entry danger
  • Deserts are often infertile and unable to support vegetation.From the entry infertile
  • The soldier deserted his troop in a pusillanimous manner.From the entry pusillanimous
  • The desert extended for miles in all directions.From the entry extend
  • Only a tough species will survive in the desert.From the entry tough
  • It may appear that they're getting ahead by cheating, but they'll get their just deserts in the end.From the entry just deserts
  • The sun glared down on the desert sand.From the entry glare
  • Although it was a scorching desert by day, temperatures could drop as low as the teens at night.From the entry teens
  • Birds inhabiting desert regions have an etiolated appearance.From the entry etiolated
  • It's hot in the desert. - Well, duh!From the entry duh
  • What would I take with me to a desert island?From the entry desert island
  • Why are you marooning me on a desert island? It's probably full of guano. Can't I go somewhere nice?From the entry desert island
  • We travelled across the desert on camelback.From the entry camelback

Meaning of desert

  1. noun A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
  2. noun In particular, a barren, arid area of land which is hot, with sandy, rocky, or parched ground.
  3. noun Any barren place or situation.

Full definition of desert

Questions about desert in a sentence

How do you use desert in a sentence?
Desert is used as a noun, adjective and verb. For example: “They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.”
What is a short sentence with desert?
“Anyone found deserting will be punished.”
What does desert mean?
Desert means a barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: desert (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use desert in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/desert. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.