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Where does the phrase just deserts come from?
Why do we say that someone has gotten their just deserts? Does this turn of phrase have anything to do with dessert (“a sweet food eaten at the end of a meal”) or desert (“a dry land with few plants and little rainfall”)? In fact, the phrase employs neither of these words. Instead, it uses a completely unrelated word that happens to be pronounced like the word for sweets and spelled like the one for a dry place: desert, meaning “reward or punishment deserved or earned by one’s qualities or acts.” This little-used noun is, as you might have guessed, related to the English verb deserve. It has nothing to do with arid, dry land, or with cookies and ice cream.
Synonyms
Example Sentences
Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, 14-20 Oct. 2006
The coastal plain is a desert in terms of precipitation—less than six inches fall annually—but what falls as snow stays to be later distributed by the wind.
—John Hildebrand, Harper's, November 2003
The house finch, a songbird native to the Western desert, has proved to be highly adaptable, having rapidly colonized the Eastern states after its release on Long Island in the early 1940's.
—Jane E. Brody, New York Times, 1 Jan. 2002
Adjective
While my very American mother swabbed the dishes, Dad lingered at the dinner table, recreating in visceral detail the taste of mint in a Bedouin teacup under a desert sky, or the golden plumage of his father's saluki dogs, or the filigreed robes of the young king at the camel races.
—Diana Abu-Jaber, Vogue, May 2007
… the place in the Texas Panhandle where Highway 66 rolled down off the land of farms and ranches into the beginnings of the desert grassland and red-rock country that dominated New Mexico.
—Susan Croce Kelly, Route 66, 1988
Verb
Boulet saw his longtime partner desert him in the midst of the storm, then had his wife and daughter skip town in its aftermath.
—Mike Flaherty, TV Guide, 10-16 Sept. 2007
Left alone for a moment, he feels mournful, bereft—and then panicky, when he thinks he has been deserted again.
—Richard Corliss, Time, 7 Mar. 2005
But now the building seemed deserted at two in the afternoon, and I soon learned that the paper, incredibly, was forced to advertise for applicants to the staff.
—Arthur Miller, Timebends, 1987
The inhabitants had deserted the town.
She had been married for just over a year when her husband deserted her.
He was deserted by his friends and family.
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Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 1 Sep. 2020
Last month, archaeologists arriving at Jabal Maragha in eastern Sudan encountered five men who had used a pair of digging machines to create a 55-foot-deep, 65-foot-long trench in the desert landscape.
—Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Aug. 2020
However, the main attraction will likely be their selection of desert rose, said Dan Cobb, who runs the nursery with his girlfriend, Desiree Stone.
—Jessica Saggio | Contributing Writer, NOLA.com, 31 Aug. 2020
Olson spent 24 seasons at Arizona, revitalizing a fan base in the desert while transforming a program that had been to the NCAA Tournament just three times in 79 years before he was hired in 1983.
—CBS News, 28 Aug. 2020
The desert parts of the Sonoran region, unlike its grasslands and high-mountain conifer ecosystems, are not well adapted to blazes.
—Lydia Millet, The New Republic, 28 Aug. 2020
At one point, Russian and American gun turrets face each other, flags blowing stiffly in the desert wind.
—Abraham Mahshie, Washington Examiner, 28 Aug. 2020
That may explain why parthenogenesis is possible in so many desert and island species.
—Corryn Wetzel, National Geographic, 25 Aug. 2020
The hotel includes spacious guest rooms and haciendas, surrounded by lush desert plant life set against white-washed walls and red-tiled roofs.
—Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 24 Aug. 2020
Christian Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2021
The temporary ban applies to areas within the South Coast Air Basin, which includes Orange County and non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to a news release from the agency.
—Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 18 Dec. 2022
In northern Colombia, in a semi-desert region that juts into the Caribbean Sea, its dusty roads traveled by the Wayúu people with their blankets and colorful backpacks, is Cerrejón — one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world.
—Pablo Correa, Discover Magazine, 8 Dec. 2022
Nor do the sunbaked, semi-desert grasslands of Prescott National Forest south of Camp Verde look like the kind of place the wispy, water-loving trees would thrive.
—Mare Czinar, The Arizona Republic, 15 Sep. 2022
Construction of the mega-project is expected to start in earnest in the Karoo, a semi-desert natural region of the country, in 2022.
—Conrad Onyango, Quartz, 1 Feb. 2022
In non-desert environments, human waste can decompose when buried in soil rich in organic material, according to Kimberly Finch, BLM Utah communications director.
—The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Sep. 2021
Along those skinny stretches of green, the ancient groups built villages, irrigated fields and planted corn, chili peppers and other crops, likely borrowed from non-desert farming villages to the north and east.
—Bridget Alex, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Aug. 2021
Much of eastern Washington has an arid, semi-desert environment that specializes in warm-climate wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 1 July 2021
Ajit Solanki, USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
The third Skywalker trilogy started off with a bang in late 2015 with The Force Awakens, only to end with a whimper four years later as fans deserted the franchise.
—Bychristiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 3 June 2023
Last month, President Joe Biden also designated the Castner Range National Monument, in El Paso, Texas, which is home to desert wildlife and more than 40 archaeological sites.
—Nick Roll, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 Apr. 2023
However, the vegetables that survived heavy rains have been deserted, the fruit remains unpicked and students have been kept out of the soil as well.
—Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2023
When Captain Kidd dispatched a press-gang to find new recruits for the Wager, six members of the gang itself deserted.
—David Grann, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2023
Botswana is home to diverse landscapes that span delta to desert, and the local culture is vibrant and inviting.
—Brad Japhe, Travel + Leisure, 6 June 2023
But the voids are well and truly empty, deserted of any meaningful structure or concentration of matter.
—Popular Mechanics, 6 June 2023
The calf was deserted by its herd and had to be euthanized.
—Alexandra E. Petri, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'desert.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun (1) and Adjective
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin desertum, from Latin, neuter of desertus, past participle of deserere to desert, from de- + serere to join together — more at series
Verb
French déserter, from Late Latin desertare, frequentative of Latin deserere
Noun (2)
Middle English deserte, from Anglo-French, from feminine of desert, past participle of deservir to deserve
Noun (1)
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Adjective
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
1603, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Noun (2)
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Phrases Containing desert
Dictionary Entries Near desert
Cite this Entry
“Desert.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desert. Accessed 9 Jul. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
desert
2 of 4 adjective
desert
3 of 4 noun
desert
4 of 4 verb
Noun
Middle English desert "barren land," from early French desert (same meaning), derived from Latin deserere "to desert, abandon," from de- "from, away" and serere "to join together"
Noun
Middle English deserte "quality of being worthy of a reward or punishment," from early French desert (same meaning), from deservir "to deserve," from Latin deservire "to devote oneself to"
Verb
from French déserter "to desert, abandon," from Latin desertare (same meaning), derived from earlier deserere "to desert, abandon" — related to desert entry 1
More from Merriam-Webster on desert
Nglish: Translation of desert for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of desert for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about desert
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