Desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than 400 millimetres (16 in). A common definition distinguishes between true deserts, which receive less than 250 millimetres (10 in) of average annual precipitation, and semideserts or steppes, which receive between 250 millimetres (10 in) and 400 to 500 millimetres (16 to 20 in).

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Famous quotes containing the word desert:

    “Blame but thyself that hast misdone,
    And well deserved to have blame;
    Change thou thy way so evil begun,
    And then my lute shall sound that same:
    But if till then my fingers play
    By thy desert their wonted way,
    Blame not my lute.”
    —Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503?–1542)

    “They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
    Between stars—on stars where no human race is.
    I have it in me so much nearer home
    To scare myself with my own desert places.”
    —Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    “We black men seem the sole oasis of simple faith and reverence in a dusty desert of dollars and smartness.”
    —W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)