[*** \mathrm{desert}^1] | dəˈzərt |

ABANDON, DESERT, FORSAKE mean to leave without intending to return.

ABANDON suggests that the thing or person left may be helpless without protection.

e.g. abandoned children

DESERT implies that the object left may be weakened but not destroyed by one's absence.

e.g. a deserted town

FORSAKE suggests an action more likely to bring impoverishment or bereavement to that which is forsaken than its exposure to physical dangers.

e.g. a forsaken lover

source: CC BY-SA 2.0,

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

〈人が〉〈人〉を捨てる, 見捨てる; 〈職務･持ち場など〉を放棄する (!義務･誓約などをみずから捨てるの意; forsakeは感情的きずなを振り切って見捨てること; abandonはやむを得ず捨てる, 完全に放棄すること)

e.g. we feel our public representatives have deserted us.

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

〈人･動物が〉〈場所〉を(捨てて)去る, 後にする (!しばしば受け身で; → deserted)

e.g. good weather came after the summer hordes had deserted the beaches.

(of a quality or ability) fail (someone), especially at a crucial moment when most needed:

｟書｠ 〈気持ち･特性･技能などが〉(必要なときに)〈人〉からなくなる, うせる

e.g. her luck deserted her.

no object Military (of a soldier) illegally run away from military service.

〈軍人などが〉 【軍務などから】脱走する, 逃亡する «from» ; 【敵に】投降する «to»

late Middle English: from Old French deserter, from late Latin desertare, from Latin desertus ‘left waste’ (see desert2).

[*** \mathrm{desert}^2] | ˈdezərt |

a dry, barren area of land, especially one covered with sand, that is characteristically desolate, waterless, and without vegetation.

砂漠, 荒野; U(漠然とした広がりとしての)砂漠地帯

a situation or area considered dull and uninteresting:

｟比喩的に｠ 不毛の地, 時期, 時代; (人跡絶えた)廃墟

e.g. a cultural desert.

like a desert:

砂漠の(ような)

e.g. overgrazing has created desert conditions.

uninhabited and desolate:

人の住まない, 寂しい; 不毛の

e.g. desert wastes.

desertic adjective

Middle English: via Old French from late Latin desertum ‘something left waste’, neuter past participle of deserere ‘leave, forsake’.