Desert, Dessert
Desert and dessert demand attentiveness when you write (type) them because even the spellchecker cannot identify what you have meant; and both the words have the same pronunciation i.e. are homophones.
Desert (noun) means a large stretch of dry and barren land, often covered in sand with scarce vegetation, and little water. Deserts have high and low temperatures. Desert is an uncultivated land that looks desolate: Drought has made the land look-like desert due to lack of rains.
Saharan desert is the world’s largest among all the deserts.
33% of land surface on Earth is covered with deserts.
Sand dunes in various shapes and sizes are a common feature of deserts.
“Uluru: The massive sandstone monolith, also known as Ayers Rock, towers over the desert sands of central Australia as one of that country’s most recognizable natural icons.” National Geographic’s Special Edition, Earth’s Holiest Places: Sacred Journeys
Desert as a verb means leaving a place without intending to return (M F Hussein deserted India because of right-wingers, and died in London), abandon, not helping someone when he or she needs the help (Marwin has deserted his parents and went to the US), leaving armed forces (Dorje was punished for deserting the naval service), failing when needed (My presence of mind deserted me when I needed it).
Deserted as an adjective refers to hardly anyone present on the street, or town, or city and thus looking abandoned, and empty (The once thriving Detroit is a deserted city. A deserted husband i.e. whose wife has let him). Figuratively desert means – a place without life, abandoned, and place of neglect or deserted.
“Woman stabbed 27 times in Nodia, husband questioned,” reports The Indian Express Saturday, 22 June 2013. “Was attacked in a deserted area of Aghapur village, Sector 4.”
Deserts is a plural noun which means deserving either a reward or punishment: get one’s just deserts meaning what one deserves. Getting one’s deserts means someone worthy of a reward, or punishment, or reward.
Sheetal got her just deserts for her hard work: a covetable job.
Chang got his just deserts for his utter contempt for the traffic rules: fined and imprisoned.
Derivatives: desert, deserts, deserted, deserting, desertion (noun: instance of leaving someone), desertification.
Manisha’s PhD dissertation on the desertification areas of Rayalaseema has given her wide acclaim among geographers, geologists and environmentalists.
Dessert is a sweet dish usually eaten as the final dish after a meal during formal and informal dinners or meals, also called sweetdish, pudding, afters, or mita – the sweet course of a meal such as pie, tart, ice-cream, halwa, gulab jamun, and others.
Restaurants usually have a range of desserts on their menu.
In order to cut down weight, Mr Cotton, a gourmand, forsakes to have a dessert after a meal when he goes out for fine dining with Mrs Cotton.
Dessertspoon is bigger than a teaspoon but smaller than a tablespoon.
Dessert wine: a type of sweet wine supped or drinked with or without the dessert.
Shall we travel to Atacama Desert in South America loaded with Indian desserts?
