different between tableland vs desert

English

Alternative forms

• table land, table-land

Etymology

table +? land

Noun

tableland (plural tablelands)

1. A relatively flat region of terrain, particularly in reference to surrounding terrain.
   • 1913, Willa Cather, O Pioneers!

     One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away.

Translations

See also

• plateau
• plain
• prairie

References

• “tableland”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English desert, deseert, from Old French deserte, from deservir (“to deserve”), from Vulgar Latin d?servi? (“to gain or merit by giving service”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??z??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??z?t/, /d??z?t/
• Homophone: dessert
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Noun

desert (plural deserts)

2. (usually in the 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.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 17:

     Who will believe my verse in time to come,

     If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?

   • 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!"

   • July 4, 1789, Alexander Hamilton, Eulogium on Major-General Greene

     His reputation falls far below his desert.

   • 1971 John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

     "It is true that certain common sense precepts of justice, particularly those which concern the protection of liberties and rights, or which express the claims of desert, seem to contradict this contention."

Usage notes

Sometimes confused with dessert, especially in set phrases such as just deserts.

Derived terms

• just deserts

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English desert (“wilderness”), from Old French desert, from Latin d?sertum, past participle of d?ser? (“to abandon”). Displaced native Old English w?sten.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?z?t/
• (General American) enPR: d?'z?(r)t, IPA^(key): /?d?z?t/

Noun

desert (countable and uncountable, plural deserts)

1. A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.
2. (figuratively) 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?

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

desert (not comparable)

1. Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.
   • 1611, Bible (King James Version), Luke ix. 10

     He […] went aside privately into a desert place.

   • 1750, Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", Stanza 14:

     Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

Borrowed from French déserter, from Late Latin desert?, from Latin desertus, from deser? (“abandon”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??z??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??z?t/, /d??z?t/

Verb

desert (third-person singular simple present deserts, present participle deserting, simple past and past participle deserted)

1. 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.

2. To leave one's duty or post, especially to leave a military or naval unit without permission.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Deters, deters, rested

Catalan

Etymology

First attested 14th century. From Latin d?sertum, possibly a semi-learned term.

Noun

desert m (plural deserts)

1. desert (desolate terrain)

Further reading

• “desert” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “desert” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “desert” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

References

Friulian

Alternative forms

• disiert

Etymology

From Latin d?sertum (in this form possibly a semi-learned term; cf. the variant form).

Noun

desert m (plural deserts)

1. desert

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French deserte (“deserved”), from deservir (“to deserve”), from Vulgar Latin d?servi? (“to gain or merit by giving service”).

Alternative forms

• deserte, deseert, desserte, decert, decerte, disert, dissert, dyssert

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d???z?rt/, /d??z?rt/, /-s?rt/

Noun

desert (plural desertes)

2. The situation of deserving something.
3. That which is deserved or merited; desert.
4. An action or deed which invites or prompts judgement.
5. worth, virtuousness, benefit; that which is good.

Descendants

• English: desert

References

• “d??sert, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “desert, n.1.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1895

Etymology 2

From Old French desert, from Latin d?sertum, past participle of d?ser? (“to abandon”).

Alternative forms

• deserte, deseert, desarte, decert, disert, diserte, dysserte, dezert, deserd

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?z?rt/, /d??z?rt/, /d??-/, /-s?rt/, /-art/

Noun

desert (plural desertes)

2. wilderness (unpopulated, bare land)

Descendants

• English: desert
• Scots: desert

References

• “d??sert, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Adjective

desert

1. (of places) barren, wild
2. (usually of places) deserted, abandoned

Descendants

• English: desert

References

• “d??sert, ppl.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French desert.

Noun

desert m (plural desers)

1. desert (desolate terrain)

Descendants

• French: désert

Old French

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Latin d?sertum.

Noun

desert m (oblique plural deserz or desertz, nominative singular deserz or desertz, nominative plural desert)

1. desert (desolate terrain)

Descendants

• Middle French: desert
  • French: désert

Romanian

Etymology

From French dessert.

Noun

desert n (plural deserturi)

1. dessert

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from French dessert.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?sert/
• Hyphenation: de?sert

Noun

dèsert m (Cyrillic spelling ??????)

1. dessert

Declension

Antonyms

• predjelo

References

• “desert” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal