desert
verb/dɪˈzɜːt/
/dɪˈzɜːrt/
Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they desert | /dɪˈzɜːt/ /dɪˈzɜːrt/ |
| he / she / it deserts | /dɪˈzɜːts/ /dɪˈzɜːrts/ |
| past simple deserted | /dɪˈzɜːtɪd/ /dɪˈzɜːrtɪd/ |
| past participle deserted | /dɪˈzɜːtɪd/ /dɪˈzɜːrtɪd/ |
| -ing form deserting | /dɪˈzɜːtɪŋ/ /dɪˈzɜːrtɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] desert somebody to leave somebody without help or support synonym abandon
- She was deserted by her husband.
- Don’t worry—I won’t desert you.
Homophones desert | dessertdesert dessert/dɪˈzɜːt//dɪˈzɜːrt/- desert verb
- He begged them not to desert him.
- dessert noun
- She ordered her favourite dessert.
- [transitive, often passive] desert something to go away from a place and leave it empty synonym abandon
- The villages had been deserted.
- The owl seems to have deserted its nest.
- He was accused of deserting his post.
- [intransitive, transitive] to leave the armed forces without permission
- Large numbers of soldiers deserted as defeat became inevitable.
- desert something The soldiers had deserted the US army to fight for Mexico.
- [transitive] to leave an organization or stop doing an activity, especially in a way that is considered bad and disloyal
- desert something Millions of voters are deserting the party.
- desert something for something Why did you desert teaching for politics?
- [transitive] desert somebody if a particular quality deserts you, it is not there when you need it
- Her courage seemed to desert her for a moment.
Word Originverb late Middle English: from Old French deserter, from late Latin desertare, from Latin desertus ‘left waste’ from deserere ‘leave, forsake’.
Idioms
See desert in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee desert in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English(like rats) deserting/leaving a sinking ship
- (humorous, disapproving) used to talk about people who leave an organization, a company, etc. that is having difficulties, without caring about the people who are left
Check pronunciation:
desert