- a large area of land that has very little water and very few plants growing on it. Many deserts are covered by sand.
- the Sahara Desert
- Somalia is mostly desert.
- They travelled many miles across burning desert sands.
- Occasionally, we passed a desert oasis surrounded by small tracts of grass and shrub.
- (figurative) The town has become a cultural desert (= a place without any culture).
Extra ExamplesTopics Geographya2- He drove off into the desert.
- The desert stretched for endless miles on all sides of us.
- The land loses its protective cover of vegetation and soon turns into desert.
- cold nights in the desert
- green fields surrounded by arid desert
- their journey across the desert
- vast tracts of desert land
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- arid
- barren
- dry
- …
- become
- turn into
- turn to
- …
- stretch
- area
- country
- land
- …
- across the desert
- through the desert
- in the desert
- …
Word Originnoun Middle English: via Old French from late Latin desertum ‘something left waste’, neuter past participle of deserere ‘leave, forsake’.Want to learn more?
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desert