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What is the difference between desert and sand?

desert | sand |

As nouns the difference between desert and sand

is that desert is (deserved) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward while sand is rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.

As adjectives the difference between desert and sand

is that desert is abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited; usually of a place while sand is of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

As verbs the difference between desert and sand

is that desert is 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 while sand is to abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.

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 ----

    sand

    English

    (wikipedia sand)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (label) Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see ), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand .}}
  • A beach or other expanse of sand.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
  • , chapter=7, title= The Lonely Pyramid , passage=It was the Lost Oasis, the Oasis of the vision in the sand . […] Deep-hidden in the hollow, beneath the cliffs, it lay; and round it the happy verdure spread for many a rood. […] Yes, the quest was ended, the Lost Oasis was the Found!}}
  • Personal courage (used before or around 1920s).
  • * {{quote-book, year=1979, title=Bendigo Shafter, first=Louis, last=L'Amour
  • , authorlink=Louis L'Amour, isbn=9780553123548, ol=24369989M , passage=There was youngsters all around him, and he stood there lookin’ at me and never turned a hair. He had sand , that Morrell.}}
  • A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
  • A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
  • A single grain of sand.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (label) A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • The sands are numbered that make up my life.

    Derived terms

    * built on sand * bury one's head in the sand * Great Sandy Desert * kick sand in somebody's face * pound sand * oil sand * quicksand * sandbag * sandbank * sandbar * sand bath * sandblast * sand-blind * sandbox * sandbox tree * sandboy * sandbur * sand-cast * sand casting * sandcastle * sand crack * sand dab * sand dollar * sand dune * sand eel * sander * sanderling * sand flea * sandfly * sand fly * sandfly fever * sandglass * sandgroper * sandgrouse * sand hill * sandhill crane * sandhog * sand hopper * sandiness * sand iron * sand lance * sand leek * sand lily * sand lizard * sandman * sand martin * sand painting * sandpaper * sand pear * sandpiper * sandpit * sand shark * sand shoe * sandshoe * sandsoap * sandspit * sandstorm * sand table * sand trap * sand verbena * sand viper * sand wedge * sandworm * sandwort * sandy * sand yacht * sandyacht * tar sand

    See also

    (Other terms) * arena * arenicolous * psammite * sabulous * shar-pei * tombolo

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.
  • To cover with sand.
  • See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----