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Valley vs Desert - What's the difference?

valley | desert |

As nouns the difference between valley and desert

is that valley is an elongated depression between hills or mountains, often with a river flowing through it while desert is (deserved) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward.

As a proper noun Valley

is the San Fernando Valley in southern California.

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.

valley

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An elongated depression between hills or mountains, often with a river flowing through it.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author= John Vidal
    • , volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas , passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys .}}
  • The area which drains into a river.
  • Any structure resembling one, e.g., the meeting point of two pitched roofs.
  • The internal angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * uncanny valley * closed-cut valley * open valley * valley board * valley piece * valley rafter

    See also

    * dale * dell * vale

    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 ----