desert

I

n

1. barrens, Sahara, dust bowl; wasteland, waste, wilderness, wild, no man's land; moor, heath, tundra, veldt, steppe, savanna, plain.

adj

2. desolate, barren, bare, devoid, empty, destitute, poor, deficient; uncultivable, uncultivatable, sterile, infertile, unfertile, unproductive.

3. arid, dry, moistureless, waterless, droughty, without rain, thirsty, Chem. anhydrous; dehydrated, desiccated, dried up; parched, baked, roasted, toasted, burnt, scorched, hot, burning, torrid.

4. camellike, cactuslike, cactoid, succulent; oasitic, oasal, oasean.

II

v

1. abandon, forsake, leave behind, throw over, jilt, run out on, Inf. leave flat, Inf. leave in the lurch, turn one's back on; ignore, cut off, neglect, ostracize.

2. betray, turn traitor, Sl. sell down the river, Sl. rat out or rat out on; apostatize, defect; repudiate, abjure, reject, disown, renounce; renege, bail out, Inf. back out of, back-pedal, Inf. back away from, back off on, Inf. cop out.

3. leave, depart, quit, go away from, vacate, evacuate; secede, withdraw from; flee, fly, bolt, take to one's heels, turn tail, cut and run.

4. relinquish, abdicate, give up, yield, let go, resign.

5.(usu. in reference to military duty) run away, Inf. run, go AWOL; make off, sneak off, abscond, decamp, take French leave.

III

n

1.Often deserts

just reward, due, right, birthright, Literary. guerdon, Archaic. meed; requital, recompense, compensation; just punishment, Inf. comeuppance, Inf. what's coming to one, All Sl. (usu. with get) his, hers, yours, theirs.

2. merit, worth, excellence, value, quality, virtue, integrity; guilt, culpability, blamability; responsibility, accountability, answerability.