deserted

/dɪˈzɜːtɪd/ (bre, ipa) · /dɪˈzɜːrtɪd/ (ame, ipa)

deserted — adjective

  • desertedpositive
  • more desertedcomparative
  • most desertedsuperlative

1. describes a place that is empty of inhabitants or visitors, often because everyo

1.形容詞B1
釋義

describes a place that is empty of inhabitants or visitors, often because everyone has gone away or it is rarely used.

例句

At three in the morning, the main square in Kraków felt completely deserted.

predicative: place + felt + deserted

Ilan walked his dog along a deserted beach as the storm clouds rolled in.

attributive: deserted + [place noun]

同義詞
  • empty

    more neutral; doesn't suggest that people used to be there

  • abandoned

    stronger — suggests the place was left for good

  • uninhabited

    formal; about places where no one has ever lived, like an island

反義詞

文法句型

used before a noun

used after a linking verb

用法筆記

Subject is almost always a place (street, town, beach, building, road). Distinguish from sense 2: this sense talks about EMPTINESS; sense 2 talks about a person being abandoned.

常見錯誤

❌I felt deserted in the empty park.
✅The park felt deserted when I walked through it.
💡Sense 1 takes a place as the subject; using 'I' as the subject shifts the meaning to sense 2 (abandoned by people).

2. left without help or support by people you depended on, especially at a hard mom

2.形容詞B2
釋義

left without help or support by people you depended on, especially at a hard moment in your life.

例句

After the scandal broke, Emre felt deserted by the friends he had trusted for years.

feel deserted by + [people]

Christopher was deserted by his business partner just two weeks before the launch.

passive: be deserted by + [agent]

同義詞
  • abandoned

    near-identical; stronger and more literary

  • forsaken

    formal/literary; carries deeper emotional weight

  • let down

    informal; lighter and more everyday

反義詞

文法句型

used after a linking verb

often followed by 'by' + agent

用法筆記

Often passive ('be deserted by …'). Subject is a person or group (not a place). Frequently paired with emotional verbs like 'feel' or 'seem'. Distinguish from sense 1 by checking the subject — a person = sense 2, a place = sense 1.

常見錯誤

❌The village was deserted by its young people for the city.
✅The village's young people moved to the city, and the place felt deserted.
💡When the subject is a place, sense 1 fits; sense 2 needs a person as the one being let down.