Desert vs. Wilderness

(usually in plural) That which is deserved or merited; a just punishment or reward

A barren area of land or desolate terrain, especially one with little water or vegetation; a wasteland.

(figuratively) Any barren place or situation.

Usually of a place: abandoned, deserted, or uninhabited.

Example: ‘They were marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.’;

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.

Example: ‘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.

Example: ‘Anyone found deserting will be shot.’;

That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit.

Example: ‘According to their deserts will I judge them.’; ‘Andronicus, surnamed PiusFor many good and great deserts to Rome.’; ‘His reputation falls far below his desert.’;

A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa which are destitute of moisture and vegetation.

Example: ‘A dreary desert and a gloomy waste.’;

A tract, which may be capable of sustaining a population, but has been left unoccupied and uncultivated; a wilderness; a solitary place.

Example: ‘He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.’; ‘Before her extendedDreary and vast and silent, the desert of life.’;

Of or pertaining to a desert; forsaken; without life or cultivation; unproductive; waste; barren; wild; desolate; solitary; as, they landed on a desert island.

Example: ‘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.’;

To leave (especially something which one should stay by and support); to leave in the lurch; to abandon; to forsake; - implying blame, except sometimes when used of localities; as, to desert a friend, a principle, a cause, one's country.

To abandon (the service) without leave; to forsake in violation of duty; to abscond from; as, to desert the army; to desert one's colors.

To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond.

Example: ‘The soldiers . . . deserted in numbers.’;

an arid region with little or no vegetation

leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch;

Example: ‘The mother deserted her children’;

desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army;

Example: ‘If soldiers deserted Hitler's army, they were shot’;

located in a dismal or remote area; desolate;

Example: ‘a desert island’; ‘a godforsaken wilderness crossroads’; ‘a wild stretch of land’; ‘waste places’;

abandon (a person, cause, or organization) in a way considered disloyal or treacherous

Example: ‘we feel our public representatives have deserted us’;

(of people) leave (a place), causing it to appear empty

Example: ‘the tourists have deserted the beaches’;

(of a quality or ability) fail (someone) when most needed

Example: ‘her luck deserted her’;

illegally leave the armed forces

Example: ‘his life in the regiment had been such a hell that he decided to desert’;

a waterless, desolate area of land with little or no vegetation, typically one covered with sand

Example: ‘the desert of the Sinai peninsula is a harsh place’; ‘drought and deforestation are turning fragile grasslands into desert’;

a situation or place considered dull and uninteresting

Example: ‘a cultural desert’;

a flock of lapwings

Example: ‘a desert of lapwings rises from a ploughed field’;

like a desert

Example: ‘overgrazing has created desert conditions’;

uninhabited and desolate

Example: ‘desert wastes’;

A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation.

An unsettled and uncultivated tract of land in its natural state; a barren land; a wild or waste.

A place that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.

(uncountable) Wild or unrefined state; wildness.

(countable) A bewildering flock or throng.

(countable) A situation that is bewildering, or that which makes one feel awkward.

A tract of land, or a region, uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide, barren plain; a wild; a waste; a desert; a pathless waste of any kind.

Example: ‘The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply.’;

A disorderly or neglected place.

Quality or state of being wild; wildness.

Example: ‘These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands.Will keep from wilderness with ease.’;

a wild and uninhabited area

Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally referred to terrestrial environments, though growing attention is being placed on marine wilderness.