(~s)
1.
A ~ is an area of land on which not much can grow or which has been spoiled in some way.
The pollution has already turned vast areas into a ~.
N-VAR: oft adj N, N of n
2.
If you refer to a place, situation, or period in time as a ~, you are criticizing it because you think there is nothing interesting or exciting in it.
...the cultural ~ of Franco’s repressive rule...
= desert
N-COUNT: oft adj N, N of n disapproval