See desert island in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for desert island meaning in English (7.8kB)
{
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"3": "",
"4": "uninhabited"
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{
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"1": "es",
"2": "isla desierta"
},
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{
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"2": "ilha deserta"
},
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},
{
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"1": "en",
"2": "ML.",
"3": "isla deserta",
"4": "",
"5": "uninhabited island"
},
"expansion": "Medieval Latin isla deserta (“uninhabited island”)",
"name": "der"
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{
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"4": "dry, arid location"
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{
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"2": "ad nauseam"
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],
"etymology_text": "From the former sense of desert to mean deserted (“uninhabited”), particularly common on Spanish and Portuguese maps during the Age of Exploration as isla desierta, ilha deserta, and Medieval Latin isla deserta (“uninhabited island”). Now frequently misunderstood as simply desert (“dry, arid location”) and imagined as almost entirely sandy. As an indispensable thing, from the idea of loving something to the point one would want it on a deserted island where it would be used ad infinitum but never ad nauseam. Popularized by the radio show Desert Island Discs (first broadcast 1942) which asked guests what they would take with them if marooned alone on an island.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "desert islands",
"tags": [
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"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "What would I take with me to a desert island?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A deserted island, an uninhabited island, especially one in the tropics and (now frequently misunderstood as) a small and almost entirely sandy desert."
],
"id": "en-desert_island-en-noun-1cX880G8",
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],
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],
[
"entirely",
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],
[
"sandy",
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],
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]
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "無人島"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "wúréndǎo",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "无人岛"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "huāngdǎo",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "荒岛"
},
{
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"code": "nl",
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"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "onbewoond eiland"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "autiosaari"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "île inhabitée"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "île déserte"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "unbewohnte Insel"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "el",
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"roman": "erimonísi",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "ερημονήσι"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "erimóniso",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
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"neuter"
],
"word": "ερημόνησο"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "he",
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"roman": "i bodéd",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "אִי בּוֹדֵד"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "lakatlan sziget"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "eyðiey"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "eyðieyja"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "isola deserta"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "無人島"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "むじんとう"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "xal",
"lang": "Kalmyk",
"roman": "ejgo arl",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "эҗго арл"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "isla deserta"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "insula deserta"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bezludna wyspa"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ilha deserta"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "neobitajemyj ostrov",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "необитаемый остров"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "isla desierta"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "ıssız ada"
},
{
"_dis1": "83 16 1",
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ynys anghyfannedd"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Why are you marooning me on a desert island? It's probably full of guano. Can't I go somewhere nice?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An island that is completely or mostly a desert, an arid island."
],
"id": "en-desert_island-en-noun-8QL5tPm1",
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"island"
],
[
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"completely"
],
[
"mostly",
"mostly"
],
[
"desert",
"desert"
],
[
"arid",
"arid"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "42 55 3",
"tags": [
"attributive"
],
"word": "top five"
},
{
"_dis1": "42 55 3",
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],
"word": "favorite"
}
]
},
{
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"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
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}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "No, no, no. It's a thought experiment. Your desert island books are the one or five or ten books that you could always learn from and never get sick of.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2017, Alan Rifkin, Burdens by Water: An Unintended Memoir",
"text": "It would be my desert island book, this Love Life for Every Married Couple; marriage being to me the most obvious path to the hardest lesson we've all got to learn […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2021, E. K. J. Wright, How Do You Stop a Magpie Mobbing Your Mind?",
"text": "A roast dinner would be my desert island meal and I'd missed Dad's divine crispy King Edwards each Sunday.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Describing a thing considered so personally indispensable or beloved that one could never tire of it, used especially for books and music."
],
"id": "en-desert_island-en-noun-yxsclGos",
"links": [
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"indispensable",
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]
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"(figurative, attributive) Describing a thing considered so personally indispensable or beloved that one could never tire of it, used especially for books and music."
],
"tags": [
"attributive",
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Age of Exploration",
"Desert Island Discs",
"desert island"
],
"word": "desert island"
}
{
"categories": [
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"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms derived from Medieval Latin"
],
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},
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"name": "der"
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"etymology_text": "From the former sense of desert to mean deserted (“uninhabited”), particularly common on Spanish and Portuguese maps during the Age of Exploration as isla desierta, ilha deserta, and Medieval Latin isla deserta (“uninhabited island”). Now frequently misunderstood as simply desert (“dry, arid location”) and imagined as almost entirely sandy. As an indispensable thing, from the idea of loving something to the point one would want it on a deserted island where it would be used ad infinitum but never ad nauseam. Popularized by the radio show Desert Island Discs (first broadcast 1942) which asked guests what they would take with them if marooned alone on an island.",
"forms": [
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"tags": [
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"text": "What would I take with me to a desert island?",
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}
],
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"A deserted island, an uninhabited island, especially one in the tropics and (now frequently misunderstood as) a small and almost entirely sandy desert."
],
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"deserted"
],
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],
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],
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],
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]
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"text": "Why are you marooning me on a desert island? It's probably full of guano. Can't I go somewhere nice?",
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}
],
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"An island that is completely or mostly a desert, an arid island."
],
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"text": "No, no, no. It's a thought experiment. Your desert island books are the one or five or ten books that you could always learn from and never get sick of.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2017, Alan Rifkin, Burdens by Water: An Unintended Memoir",
"text": "It would be my desert island book, this Love Life for Every Married Couple; marriage being to me the most obvious path to the hardest lesson we've all got to learn […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2021, E. K. J. Wright, How Do You Stop a Magpie Mobbing Your Mind?",
"text": "A roast dinner would be my desert island meal and I'd missed Dad's divine crispy King Edwards each Sunday.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Describing a thing considered so personally indispensable or beloved that one could never tire of it, used especially for books and music."
],
"links": [
[
"indispensable",
"indispensable#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative, attributive) Describing a thing considered so personally indispensable or beloved that one could never tire of it, used especially for books and music."
],
"tags": [
"attributive",
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
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"tags": [
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],
"word": "top five"
},
{
"tags": [
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],
"word": "favorite"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "無人島"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "wúréndǎo",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "无人岛"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "wúréndǎo",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "无人岛"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "huāngdǎo",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "荒岛"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "onbewoond eiland"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "autiosaari"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "île inhabitée"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "île déserte"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "unbewohnte Insel"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "erimonísi",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "ερημονήσι"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "erimóniso",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "ερημόνησο"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"roman": "i bodéd",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "אִי בּוֹדֵד"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "lakatlan sziget"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "eyðiey"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "eyðieyja"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "isola deserta"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "無人島"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "むじんとう"
},
{
"code": "xal",
"lang": "Kalmyk",
"roman": "ejgo arl",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "эҗго арл"
},
{
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "isla deserta"
},
{
"code": "la",
"lang": "Latin",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "insula deserta"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "bezludna wyspa"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ilha deserta"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "neobitajemyj ostrov",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "необитаемый остров"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "isla desierta"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"word": "ıssız ada"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "an uninhabited island",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ynys anghyfannedd"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Age of Exploration",
"Desert Island Discs",
"desert island"
],
"word": "desert island"
}
{
"called_from": "page/2386",
"msg": "inconsistent language codes zh vs cmn in translation item: 't+' {1: 'cmn', 2: '荒岛', 'tr': 'huāngdǎo'}",
"path": [
"desert island",
"t+"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "noun",
"title": "desert island",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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