Drought vs Desert - What's the difference?
drought | desert |
A period of below average rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Donald Worster
, title=A Drier and Hotter Future
, volume=100, issue=1, page=70
, magazine=
(by extension, informal) A longer than expected term without success, particularly in sport.
(senseid)(usually in plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward
* 1600 , (John Dowland), (Flow My Tears)
* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
* A. Hamilton
A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
* {{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
, chapter=5, title= (label) Any barren place or situation.
* 1858 , William Howitt, Land, Labour, and Gold; Or, Two Years in Victoria (page 54)
* 2006 , Philip N. Cooke, Creative Industries in Wales: Potential and Pitfalls (page 34)
Abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited; usually of a place.
* Bible, Luke ix. 10
* Gray
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.
To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.
As nouns the difference between drought and desert
is that drought is a period of below average rainfall, longer and more severe than a dry spell 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.As a verb 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.drought
English
Alternative forms
* drouthNoun
(en noun)citation, passage=Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought , and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.}}
desert
English
Etymology 1
(etyl) from the (etyl) deserte, fromNoun
(en noun)- 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.
- "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!"
- His reputation falls far below his desert .
Derived terms
* just desertsEtymology 2
(etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Not thus the land appear'd in ages past, / A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.
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.}}
- 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.
- 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
(-)- They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
- He went aside privately into a desert place.
- 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 desertEtymology 3
From (etyl)Verb
(en verb)- You can't just drive off and desert me here, in the middle of nowhere.
- Anyone found deserting will be shot.