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Largest Deserts in the World

Can you name the 10 largest deserts in the world according to Wikipedia?
Map is approximate
Quiz by cosmokim
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Last updated: April 26, 2016
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First submittedApril 12, 2016
Times taken37,999
Average score50.0%
Rating4.04
3:00
Enter desert here
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mi2
Desert
5,400,000
Antarctic
3,300,000
Sahara
900,000
Arabian
500,000
Gobi
360,000
Kalahari
220,000
Great Victoria
200,000
Patagonian
200,000
Syrian
190,000
Great Basin
175,000
Chihuahuan
+2
Level 74
Apr 14, 2016
Greenland?
+4
Level 65
Apr 26, 2016
Evidently, this is not a desert.
+12
Level 63
Jan 26, 2017
Greenland is not a desert because it receives regular snowfall. Most of Antarctica receives almost no snow.
+9
Level 21
Jan 6, 2018
an area that receives very little precipitation, by definition I believe it is an area that receives less that 250mm of annual precip
+1
Level 68
Apr 16, 2016
Good job, really need more quizzes like this one!
+3
Level 65
Apr 17, 2016
Thanks!
+6
Level 71
May 2, 2016
Great quiz. Could you accept Chihuahua? I almost had it.
+3
Level 65
May 2, 2016
No, sorry. See if Quizmaster wants it.
+2
Level 65
May 4, 2016
Submit it with type-ins, because it must go through Quizmaster anyway. If he approves it, then it's accepted. :)
+4
Level 65
May 4, 2016
Another thing, when there are shortened type-ins, they often annoy those who want to type the whole answer.
+3
Level ∞
May 5, 2016
Exactly, @cosmokim. That's why I chose not to allow Patagonia. It's not correct, and it punishes the people who type it correctly. I still get a lot of flack for allowing "Pittsburg".
+28
Level 76
May 12, 2016
Since there isn't a desert called Pittsburg, I'm not surprised you get flack for allowing it.
+5
Level 22
May 12, 2016
Very funny @JeremyHall 10 points to Gryffindor
+15
Level 53
Sep 24, 2016
"The Patagonian Desert, also known as the Patagonia Desert, Patagonian Steppe, or Magellanic Steppe" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_Desert). It should be accepted.
+7
Level 87
May 3, 2016
Also could you accept Patagonia
+2
Level 65
May 3, 2016
See my previous comment.
+2
Level 61
May 12, 2016
Me too! I guessed Chihuahua but not Chihuahuan.
+2
Level 82
May 18, 2018
I said Chihuahua, too. No luck on that one.
+2
Level 73
May 12, 2016
what about Atacama ?
+2
Level 92
May 12, 2016
#22 by size, well off this list. Of course, Wikipedia separates the contiguous Gibson, Great Sandy, and Great Victoria deserts (as well as the Mojave/Sonoran, and others). If those were amalgamated into single units, I'm still not sure Atacama would make the top 10.
+3
Level 65
May 12, 2016
Yes. The reason the Atacama is famous is because it's dry, not because it is large.
+3
Level 75
May 12, 2016
I tried both Mojave and Sonoran and wondered why they didn't make the list. Had no idea the Chihuahuan was larger. My new fact for the day.
+1
Level 65
May 12, 2016
:)
+5
Level 66
May 23, 2018
I was surprised by the absence of Sonoran and Mojave also, as well as Namib. There did seem to be selective lumping together or not, which was inconsistent across regions.
+2
Level 72
Aug 18, 2017
Interesting. I did wonder why Atacama wasn't there.
+1
Level 61
May 12, 2016
I'm surprised so few people get the Great Basin - then again, I have driven through it so it's hard for me to forget!
+2
Level 75
May 12, 2016
I've driven through it several times, but didn't realize it was a desert. I just thought it was a great basin.
+7
Level 69
May 24, 2016
A lot of people here are not from the USA. And the American desert we hear about the most is Mojave - just because it is featured in many films. Then, I believe, would be the Great Salt Lake Desert. In fact, I've never heard about Great Basin before
+1
Level 45
May 23, 2018
i thought the great basin was the name for the low lying lands between the rockies and the sierras, not the desert itself.
+1
Level 73
Sep 30, 2018
The desert around the Great Salt Lake is part of the Great Basin. I grew up in the Great Basin and I can confirm it is very large, very dry, and very desolate. But it has its own beauty and is worth exploring. Great Basin National Park is amazing.
+6
Level 61
May 12, 2016
Can you accept "Patagonia" for the "Patagonian Desert?"
+2
Level 65
May 12, 2016
I've been over this in previous comments.
+1
Level 65
May 13, 2016
Well I fit the trend perfectly...and I've been to the Great Basin many times, I just never knew what it was called.
+1
Level 60
May 14, 2016
Would you consider adding Black Rock as an alternative to Great Basin? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rock_Desert As a former resident of the area, everyone refers to it by this name no matter where they are in the basin.
+1
Level 73
Apr 26, 2020
Are you sure? I spent half my life there and I've never heard anyone say Black Rock.
+5
Level 36
May 19, 2016
Patagonia should work. Nobody call the patagonian desert but Patagonia.
+2
Level 16
Aug 26, 2017
Quizmaster has been over this. It's not correct.
+2
Level 79
Oct 12, 2018
He didn't say it's not correct. He said that it 'annoys' people who want to type the whole thing. For some reason.
+2
Level 60
May 23, 2022
Quizmaster is right about how it annoys people who type Patagonian because there's an extra letter left over. But by that logic, wouldn't Patagonian annoy those who type Patagonian Desert as Desert is left over? And aren't those who don't get the answer more inconvenienced than those with an extra letter?
+2
Level 70
Jun 19, 2016
Cosmokim, can you accept Great Nevada Basin Desert for Great Basin Desert.
+1
Level 36
Mar 13, 2018
Why type extra letters?
+1
Level 60
Oct 11, 2023
It's not always clear what is needed for an answer and what isn't. It's better to type more to be safe usually.
+6
Level 80
Jun 23, 2016
I put Patagonia, didn't think to add the n.
+5
Level 68
Sep 19, 2016
Same. Wikipedia says Patagonian Desert is also known as Patagonia Desert. Nice quiz though!
+1
Level 71
Aug 25, 2016
No Sonoran amd Atacama deserts?
+1
Level 65
Oct 5, 2016
30 seconds! More flexibility needed around acceptable answers though FTW!
+1
Level 41
Oct 13, 2016
Patagonian threw me I've always called it the Atacama
+4
Level 52
Dec 8, 2016
The Patagonian and Atacama Desert are two different deserts. The Atacama borders the Pacific coast of South America.
+1
Level 67
Oct 20, 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deserts_by_area
+3
Level 69
May 25, 2017
Accept Chihuahua for Chihuahuan?
+1
Level 16
Aug 26, 2017
It's not correct, and it punishes the people who type it correctly. Another thing, when there are shortened type-ins, they often annoy those who want to type the whole answer.
+1
Level 60
Oct 11, 2023
That's not really another thing. Those statements are the same.

The latter is true, but I don't know if I would say it's not correct.

+2
Level 23
Nov 6, 2017
Please, like the comment by GEOgraphery, can you accept Patagonia and Chihuahua without the N.
+1
Level 24
Jan 7, 2018
The Quizmaster has said 'NO' to misspellings... deal with it.

I typed 'Antarctica', as the correct name was Antarctic (the desert, not the location, local tribesman's name or anything else) I had an 'A' in the box and had two more backed up before I checked the screen.

Just for the record I didn't get Chihuahuan (with or without a 'n', though I did get the Patagonian after realising my Antarctic mistake

+1
Level 68
Apr 6, 2018
Surprised not to see the Namib, Atacama or Sonoran deserts.
+1
Level 74
Aug 19, 2018
The Namib is a part of the Kalahari desert.
+1
Level 50
May 23, 2018
Very good quiz. We need more like this.
+1
Level 45
May 23, 2018
guys, the 'n' is about the desert belonging to a place. Sonora, and the sonoran desert are two different things. Chihuahua, and the chihuahuan desert are two different things. The desert belongs within the province.
+3
Level 66
Dec 13, 2018
Maybe for the ones that have desert in their full name, have ______ desert. That way people wont (or shouldnt...) forget the -n. That way everybody is happy.
+1
Level 66
Dec 13, 2018
Forgot to tick the box.. and cant do that in an edit..
+5
Level 80
Jan 6, 2019
Just to weigh in, I get frustrated at times by many of the type-ins (Riyad, Edinburg, etc), but to suddenly deviate from the site norm for this single quiz, and to do so purely for the difference between noun and adjective (especially when both are commonly accepted - see citations above) feels unnecessarily confusing. The sheer ratio of comments to questions seems to support that.
+1
Level 63
Feb 25, 2019
Got them all with 2:23 remaining at 5:37:48 PM on February 25, 2019. The smaller ones took me longer to find.
+1
Level 62
Aug 11, 2019
I'm Australian and I didn't get the Australian one. I also didn't get the American ones despite the proliferation of American movies and TV shows. It's interesting that those three are the least guessed answers, despite the number of Americans on this site. The other deserts just have much more famous names.
+2
Level 65
Oct 21, 2019
The Namib is not part of the Kalahari Desert. The map of the Kalahari Desert should be shrunk so that it isn’t that close to the coast because of that fact.
+3
Level 68
Mar 8, 2020
Patagonia should be allowed. Shall we conduct a referendum about this?
+4
Level 59
Apr 26, 2020
yeah agreed, good quiz tho
+1
Level 60
Nov 23, 2021
I think you're missing a '?' in the description.
+2
Level ∞
Nov 23, 2021
Fixed
+1
Level 78
Jan 25, 2022
Come on you Aussies - let's get this straight. The Great Victoria Desert isn't even in Victoria. Nowhere near it. It's in WA and NT. Sort this out please guys.
+1
Level 60
May 23, 2022
This is the first quiz I've seen with the same amount of points for a 5/10 and a 9/10.
+1
Level 50
Feb 10, 2024
Patagonia should be accepted.