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Desert vs Island - What's the difference?

desert | island |

As a noun desert

is desert.

As an adjective desert

is deserted.

As a proper noun island is

iceland.

desert

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) from the (etyl) deserte, from

Noun

(en noun)
  • (senseid)(usually in plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward
  • * 1600 , (John Dowland), (Flow My Tears)
  • From the highest spire of contentment / my fortune is thrown; / and fear and grief and pain for my deserts / are my hopes, since hope is gone.
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
  • "Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would not hear it of you. And I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts , and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!"
  • * A. Hamilton
  • His reputation falls far below his desert .
    Derived terms
    * just deserts

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, / A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
  • , chapter=5, title= The Lonely Pyramid , passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.}}
  • (label) Any barren place or situation.
  • * 1858 , William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria (page 54)
  • He declared that the country was an intellectual desert ; that he was famishing for spiritual aliment, and for discourse on matters beyond mere nuggets, prospectings, and the price of gold.
  • * 2006 , Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls (page 34)
  • So the question that is commonly asked is, why put a media incubator in a media desert and have it managed by a civil servant?

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited; usually of a place.
  • They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
  • * Bible, Luke ix. 10
  • He went aside privately into a desert place.
  • * Gray
  • Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
    Derived terms
    * desert boot * desert island * desert lynx * desert pavement * desert pea * desert rat * desert soil * desert varnish * desertification * food desert * preach in the desert

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To leave (anything that depends on one's presence to survive, exist, or succeed), especially when contrary to a promise or obligation; to abandon; to forsake.
  • You can't just drive off and desert me here, in the middle of nowhere.
  • To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.
  • Anyone found deserting will be shot.
    Derived terms
    * deserter * desertion * desert or leave a sinking ship

    Anagrams

    * * English heteronyms ----

    island

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (nonstandard) * (l), (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water.
  • * 2002 , Gordon L. Rottman, World War 2 Pacific island guide
  • Sumatra is the second largest island in the East Indies and the fourth largest in the world covering 182,859 square miles.
  • An entity surrounded by other entities that are very different from itself.
  • an island of tranquility (a calm place surrounded by a noisy environment)
    an island of colour on a butterfly's wing
  • * 1939 , Deseret News, October 27 1939, Roosevelt Reaffirms American Neutrality
  • King Leopold, speaking in fluent English during his six minute broadcast, said Belgium stood side by side with Holland "an Island of peace in the interests of all"
  • A superstructure on an aircraft carrier's deck.
  • (chiefly, UK) A traffic island.
  • the island in the middle of a roundabout

    Synonyms

    * (land surrounded by water) (l), (l) * (an entity surrounded by other very different entities) oasis

    Derived terms

    * coney island * desert island * floating island * heat island * high island * interisland * islander * island dispenser * island display * island-hop * island position * island state * island universe * islandwide * islandy * low island * no man is an island * safety island * security island * the Island * sea-island * tidal island

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To surround with water; make into an island
  • * 1933 , Harriet Monroe, Poetry: Volume 42
  • We paused at little river cities along the way and walked upon their bushy dikes, and heard tales of overflows in flood seasons, when four feet or more of water islanded the houses.
  • To set, dot (as if) with islands
  • To isolate
  • * , (A Shropshire Lad), XXVII, lines 1-2
  • ''High the vanes of (Shrewsbury) gleam
    Islanded in Severn stream''.

    Synonyms

    * (l)

    See also

    * archipelago * atoll * cay, key * continent * peninsula

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----