desert island

Definitions

1. A deserted island, an uninhabited island, especially one in the tropics and (now frequently misunderstood as) a small and almost entirely sandy desert.
2. An island that is completely or mostly a desert, an arid island.
3. Describing a thing considered so personally indispensable or beloved that one could never tire of it, used especially for books and music.
   attributive, figuratively

Equivalents

9 more languages

Cymraegynys anghyfannedd

Ελληνικάερημονήσιερημόνησο

Suomiautiosaari

עבריתאִי בּוֹדֵד

Italianoisola deserta

日本語無人島

Nederlandsonbewoond eiland

Portuguêsilha deserta

Русскийнеобитаемый остров

Examples

“What would I take⟳ with me to a desert island?”

“Desert islands cannot harbour treachery, even from the enemy hidden within man himself.”

“Why are you marooning me on a desert island? It's probably full of guano. Can't I go somewhere nice?”

“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.”

“My desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups, in chronological order⟳:[…]”

“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⟳ […]”

“A roast dinner would be my desert island meal and I'd missed Dad's divine crispy King Edwards each Sunday.”

CEFR level