oasis

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
But the oasis is accentuated by its isolation in the desert which spreads about it and is the more inviting by contrast.

View all »
Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A fertile or green spot in a desert or wasteland, made so by the presence of water.
  2. noun A situation or place preserved from surrounding unpleasantness; a refuge: an oasis of serenity amid chaos.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • But the oasis was a mirage, he had learned as the creative writing professor discussed and dismembered James's fiction to the other students, some of whom sought to jab their own barbed remarks. —  F ;SF - vol 105 issue 02 - August 2003
  • Once they stopped for water at a kind of oasis, a mauntery of some sort, hoping that some novices would come scupper for them—lean down to reach the bucket, and show evidence of some lovely curve beneath their voluminous habits. —  SON OF A WITCH
  • WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Giant U.S. phone companies AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have been seen by anxious investors as a near-term oasis for their money, but an influential analyst says such a view might be a mirage. —  MarketWatch.com - Top Stories
  • Except now your oasis, a salt grain's throw from the Dead Sea in —  globorati
  • But the full-time concierge at the long desk nearby also serves as a reminder that the oasis is private, for the owners of and visitors to the building's 143 condominiums, which start at $1 million. —  Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Local News
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 130 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Late Latin Oasis, an oasis in the Libyan desert, from Greek, from Coptic ouahe, from Egyptian wḥ't.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French oasis = Spanish oásis = Portuguese oasis (preserving the L. form); F. also oase = Italian oasi =D. G. Danish oase = Swedish oas = Russian oasŭ, oasisŭ; from Late Latin Oasis (L. in deriv. Oasites), a place in the west of Egypt to which criminals were banished by the emperors, from Greek )/Οασις (Herodotus), )/Αυασις (Strabo) (this second form apparently simulating Greek αὔειν, dry, wither, = Latin urere, burn), also )/Ωασις, and (the city) )/Υασις, a fertile spot in the Libyan desert; of Egypt, origin; cf. Coptic ouahe (later Arabic wāh), a dwelling-place, an oasis, from ouih, dwell.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/oʊˈeɪsɪs/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a month.

Recently looked up

melatonin · stoke · astrolabe · knout · genteel

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich