Words / B2

di-ZURT-id/dɪˈzɜːtɪd/

Deserted means empty of people; also left by someone who should have stayed: a deserted village; deserted by. Abandoned and uninhabited are close twins; desert (stress on the first syllable) is the dry biome — a classic stress trap. A deserted high street in the census still needs the year. Mix-up: deserted vs dessert (pudding); desert as a verb (to abandon, same family); do not write deserted for a quiet room that is still in use.

Meaning

Empty of people; also left by someone who should have stayed (a deserted village; deserted by).

Examples

• “A deserted high street in the census still needs the year, the geography paper said.”
• “A deserted village featured on the OS extract, which is the abandoned-settlement sense — still name the period.”

Good to know

a deserted street / village / island; deserted by. Close: abandoned / uninhabited. Stress trap: desert (biome). Spelling trap: dessert. Geography and history. Empty of people, or abandoned — quote the year.

Near in meaning

abandoned, uninhabited, empty

New