seri-, ser-

(Latin: serere, a string, a thread; a row, succession, sequence; to join together, to connect, to combine)

desert (diz URT), deserts (diz URTS)
1. Suitable rewards or punishments: "He will get his just deserts when he is punished for keeping his daughter locked away as his sex slave."
2. Etymology: from about 1300, borrowed from Old French deserte, past participle of deservir, "be worthy to have"; from Latin deservire, "to serve well, to devote oneself to".
deserted
1. Abandoned; forsaken: "There is the problems of deserted wives and children."
2. Untenanted; without inhabitants: "We went into the deserted farmhouse."
3. Unfrequented; lonely: "The poor victim was lured to a deserted spot."
deserter
1. A disloyal person who betrays or deserts his/her cause or religion or political party or friend etc.
2. Someone who abandons his/her duty; such as, in the military service.
desertification
1. A process by which an area changes to, or becomes, a desert.
2. The rapid depletion of plant life and the loss of topsoil at desert boundaries and in semiarid regions; usually, caused by a combination of drought and the overexploitation of grasses and other vegetation by people.
3. Etymology: from about 1973, formed from English desert + -ification, "causing to become" as with calcification and stratification.
desertion
1. The act of deserting or the state of being deserted.
2. In law, willful abandonment; especially, of one's wife or husband without consent, in violation of legal or moral obligations.
3. An unauthorized act of leaving military service or duty with the intention of not returning.
dissert
1. To discourse or to dispute; to discuss.
2. To speak or to write at length.
3. Etymology: from Latin dissertus, past participle of disserere, from dis-, "from" + serere, "to join, to arrange."
dissertate
1. To formally discourse or to present a formal viewpoint.
2. To discuss a subject fully and learnedly; to discourse.
dissertation (s) (noun), dissertations (pl)
1. A written work advancing a new point of view resulting from research; usually a requirement for an advanced academic degree: The associate professor gave his students an assignment of writing a dissertation about the experiments in his chemistry class .
2. Any formal discourse in speech or writing: Joan had to finalize the preparation of her dissertation about the discrimination of women in some work places, and be able to support and justify it, in front of a group of college students and her professor.
3. A lengthy, formal treatise, especially one written by a candidate for the doctoral degree at a university: Frank was spending a great deal of time on his dissertation in order to earn his Doctor of Philosophy, or PHD, at his educational institution.
4. Etymology: as far back as 1611, from Latin dissertationem, dissertatio, "discourse"; from dissertare "to debate, to argue"; from disserere, "to discuss, to examine"; from dis-, "apart" + serere, "to arrange words".

The sense of "formal, written treatise" is from about 1651.

An extended presentation of a subject; especially, in writing.
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dissertational
1. Relating to dissertations.
2. Resembling a dissertation.
dissertationist
A writer of dissertations.
dissertative, dissertatively
Of or pertaining to a dissertation or an extended treatment of a subject; especially, in writing.
dissertator
Someone who talks or holds forth formally about a topic.
exert
1. To put to use or effect; to put forth: "I exerted all of my strength to move the table.
2. To bring to bear; to exercise; to exert one's influence.
3. To make a great effort at a mental or physical task.
4. To put (oneself) to strenuous effort: "We exerted ourselves considerably to raise funds for homeless children."
exertion
1. The use of physical or mental energy; hard work.
2. The act or an instance of exerting, especially a strenuous effort.
insert
1. To put or place into something: "He inserted a key into the lock."
2. To introduce or cause to be introduced into the body of something: "She tried to insert an extra paragraph into the article."