des·ert 1 (d z  rt)n. 1. A barren or desolate area, especially: a. A dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation. b. A region of permanent cold that is largely or entirely devoid of life. c. An apparently lifeless area of water. 2. An empty or forsaken place; a wasteland: a cultural desert. 3. Archaic A wild, uncultivated, and uninhabited region. adj. 1. Of, relating to, characteristic of, or inhabiting a desert: desert fauna. 2. Barren and uninhabited; desolate: a desert island. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin d  sertum, from neuter past participle of dserere, to desert; see desert3.] |
de·sert 2 (d -zûrt)n. 1. Something that is deserved or merited, especially a punishment. Often used in the plural: They got their just deserts when the scheme was finally uncovered. 2. The state or fact of deserving reward or punishment. [Middle English, from Old French deserte, from feminine past participle of deservir, to deserve; see deserve.] Word History: When Shakespeare says in Sonnet 72, "Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,/To do more for me than mine own desert," he is using the word desert in the sense of "worthiness; deserving," a word perhaps most familiar to us in the plural, meaning "something that is deserved," as in the phrase just deserts. This word goes back to the Latin word d serv re, "to devote oneself to the service of," which in Vulgar Latin came to mean "to merit by service." Dservre is made up of d-, meaning "thoroughly," and servre, "to serve." Knowing this, we can distinguish this desert from desert, "a wasteland," and desert, "to abandon," both of which go back to Latin dserere, "to forsake, leave uninhabited," which is made up of d-, expressing the notion of undoing, and the verb serere, "to link together." We can also distinguish all three deserts from dessert, "a sweet course at the end of a meal," which is from the French word desservir, "to clear the table." Desservir is made up of des-, expressing the notion of reversal, and servir (from Latin servre), "to serve," hence, "to unserve" or "to clear the table." |
| de·sert 3 (d-zûrt) v. de·sert·ed, de·sert·ing, de·serts v.tr. 1. To leave empty or alone; abandon. 2. To withdraw from, especially in spite of a responsibility or duty; forsake: deserted her friend in a time of need. 3. To abandon (a military post, for example) in violation of orders or an oath. v.intr. To forsake one's duty or post, especially to be absent without leave from the armed forces with no intention of returning. [French déserter, from Late Latin d sert re, frequentative of Latin dserere, to abandon : d-, de- + serere, to join; see ser-2 in Indo-European roots.]de·sert er n. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  deserter - a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.quitter - a person who gives up too easily |
| 2. | deserter - a person who abandons their duty (as on a military post) armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" deviationist - an ideological defector from the party line (especially from orthodox communism) draft dodger, draft evader - someone who is drafted and illegally refuses to serve renegade - someone who rebels and becomes an outlaw walk-in - an operative who initiates his own defection (usually to a hostile country) for political asylum |
deserter
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