Public Services and Procurement Canada
Symbol of the Government of Canada

Institutional Links

 

Important notice

Writing Tips has been archived and won’t be updated before it is permanently deleted.

For the most up-to-date content, please consult Writing Tips Plus, which combines content from Writing Tips and The Canadian Style. And don’t forget to update your bookmarks!

Search Canada.ca
To begin your search, go to the alphabetical index below and click on the first letter of the word you are searching for.

desert, dessert, just deserts

As a noun, desert refers to a dry, barren land.

  • The goal of the Osoyoos Desert Centre Project is to preserve the Osoyoos region, Canada’s only arid desert environment.

Dessert is a sweet course eaten at the end of a meal.

  • We ordered chocolate cake for dessert.

Just deserts are the deserved consequences of one’s actions. In this case, deserts is pronounced the same as desserts.

  • The audience cheered when the villain was arrested and got his just deserts.

The verb desert means “to abandon.”

  • In the second chapter, the hero refuses to desert his post and is captured.
  • The old village was deserted.