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Surrender vs Desert - What's the difference?

surrender | desert | Related terms |

As verbs the difference between surrender and desert

is that surrender is to give up into the power, control, or possession of another; specifically to yield (a town, a fortification, etc.) to an enemy while 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.

As nouns the difference between surrender and desert

is that surrender is an act of surrendering, submission into the possession of another; abandonment, resignation while desert is (deserved) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward.

As an adjective desert is

abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited; usually of a place.

surrender

English

Alternative forms

* surrendre (archaic)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To give up into the power, control, or possession of another; specifically (military) to yield (a town, a fortification, etc.) to an enemy.
  • (intransitive, or, reflexive) To give oneself up into the power of another, especially as a prisoner; to submit or give in.
    • I surrender !
  • To give up possession of; to yield; to resign.
    • to surrender a right, privilege, or advantage
  • (reflexive) To yield (oneself) to an influence, emotion, passion, etc.
    • ''to surrender oneself to grief, to despair, to indolence, or to sleep
  • To abandon (one's hand of cards) and recover half of the initial bet.

    • Synonyms

    * (l), (l) * wave the white flag

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of surrendering, submission into the possession of another; abandonment, resignation.
  • The yielding or delivery of a possession in response to a demand.
  • (legal, property law) The yielding of the leasehold estate by the lessee to the landlord, so that the tenancy for years merges in the reversion and no longer exists.

    • Synonyms

    * capitulation

    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 ----