Synonyms for desert
ˈdɛz ərtdesert

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.8 / 6 votes

1. desert

   Abandon is a word of wide signification, applying to persons or things of any kind; abdicate and resign apply to office, authority, or power; cede to territorial possessions; surrender especially to military force, and more generally to any demand, claim, passion, etc. Quit carries an idea of suddenness or abruptness not necessarily implied in abandon, and may not have the same suggestion of finality. The king abdicates his throne, cedes his territory, deserts his followers, renounces his religion, relinquishes his titles, abandons his designs. A cowardly officer deserts his ship; the helpless passengers abandon it. We quit business, give up property, resign office, abandon a habit or a trust. Relinquish commonly implies reluctance; the fainting hand relinquishes its grasp; the creditor relinquishes his claim. Abandon implies previous association with responsibility for or control of; forsake implies previous association with inclination or attachment, real or assumed; a man may abandon or forsake house or friends; he abandons an enterprise; forsakes God. Abandon is applied to both good and evil action; a thief abandons his designs, a man his principles. Forsake, like abandon, may be used either in the favorable or unfavorable sense; desert is always unfavorable, involving a breach of duty, except when used of mere localities; as, "the Deserted Village." While a monarch abdicates, a president or other elected or appointed officer resigns. It was held that James II. abdicated his throne by deserting it.

   Synonyms:
   abandon, abdicate, abjure, cast off, cease, cede, depart from, discontinue, forego, forsake, forswear, give up, leave, quit, recant, relinquish, renounce, repudiate, resign, retire from, retract, surrender, vacate, withdraw from

   Antonyms:
   adopt, advocate, assert, cherish, claim, court, defend, favor, haunt, hold, keep, maintain, occupy, prosecute, protect, pursue, retain, seek, support, undertake, uphold, vindicate

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. desertnoun

   Synonyms:
   wild, waste, wilderness, solitude, void

   Antonyms:
   inclosure, field, pasture, garden, oasis

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.0 / 6 votes

1. desertverb

   arid land with little or no vegetation

2. abandon, forsake, desolate, desertverb

   leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

   "The mother deserted her children"

   Synonyms:
   waste, devastate, give up, lay waste to, abandon, vacate, scourge, empty, depopulate, defect, forsake, ravage, desolate

3. defect, desertverb

   desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army

   "If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot"

   Synonyms:
   forsake, desolate, defect, abandon

4. desertverb

   leave behind

   "the students deserted the campus after the end of exam period"

   Synonyms:
   defect, forsake, desolate, abandon

Matched Categories

1. • Flee
   • Leave

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. desertadjective

   Synonyms:
   uninhabited, desolate, forsaken, wild, waste, barren, untilled

2. desertnoun

   Synonyms:
   wilderness, waste, solitude, deserted region

3. desertverb

   Synonyms:
   forsake, leave, quit, abandon, renounce, leave in the lurch, turn one's back upon

4. desertnoun

   Synonyms:
   deserving, due, merit or demerit

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. desertadjective

   Synonyms:
   waste, unproductive, barren, desolate, infertile, inarable

   Antonyms:
   fertile, arable

2. desertnoun

   Synonyms:
   merit, meed, due

3. desertnoun

   Synonyms:
   wilderness, wild

   Associated words:
   oasis, mirage, caravan, caravansary, eremic

4. desertverb

   Synonyms:
   forsake, abandon, leave, run away from

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "desert":

   sahara, wasteland, wilderness, saharan, sahrawi, walkabout, dessert, deserts

Suggested Resources

1. Desert

   Desert vs. Dessert -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Desert and Dessert.

How to pronounce desert?

How to say desert in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use desert in a sentence?

1. Charles de LEUSSE:

   In the desert of the heart, tears do not touch the ground. (Dans le désert du coeur, - Les larmes ne touchent la terre.)

2. Golda Meir:

   Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil

3. Kahlil Gibran:

   Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.

4. Julien Brachet:

   It used to be, not impossible, but very difficult for somebody to abandon migrants in the middle of the desert, now, as it’s clandestine, nobody knows if you really reach the point where you were supposed to drop your passengers off or not, or if you left them in the desert.

5. Wolf Blitzer:

   To this day, 25 years later here in the United States or indeed around the world, people always come up to me: 'Oh I remember the Gulf War. I remember what you were doing,' they still associate me with those months of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, and it's a source of pride to me that I quote 'became famous' covering that war.