desert
leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
How often you will meet it
Rank 1,731 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 10,521 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.005% of every word in the library.
What it means
verb
- leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch also: abandon, forsake, desolate The mother deserted her children
- desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army also: defect If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot
- leave behind the students deserted the campus after the end of exam period
noun
- arid land with little or no vegetation
- (usually plural) a person's deservingness of or entitlement to reward or punishment
desert in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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Then three of them took counsel together and determined to desert.
The Yellow Fairy Book: The Grateful Beasts · World Traditions (Celtic, Norse, Asian & Persian) · Chapter 1
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Oh, never any where, save in desert groves Brazilian, Was ever heard such endless and aimless gabble yet.
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 08, May 21, 1870 · Various · Chapter 1
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Though everything remained green and flourishing in the plains below, the inheritance of the Three Brothers was a desert.
Famous Stories Every Child Should Know · Hamilton Wright [Editor] Mabie · Chapter 1
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Then, following the curve of the Desert, he turned north and settled on a tree-top in the Kingdom of Noland.
The Magic of Oz · L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum · Chapter 1
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The desert blossomed round him; wheat-fields rolled Beneath the warm wind waves of green and gold; The planted ear returned its hundred-fold.
Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and other poems Part 6 From — Volume I · John Greenleaf Whittier · Chapter 1