Final answer:
The world's largest desert is in Antarctica, encompassing the continent's entire ice-covered landmass. Deserts are classified by their dryness, not temperature, and Antarctica is the driest and largest desert on Earth.
Step-by-step explanation:
While commonly believed to be the Sahara Desert in Africa due to its typical desert features, the largest desert in the world is actually the Antarctic Desert. When most people think of a desert, they imagine scorching temperatures and sand dunes; however, deserts are defined by their dryness, not their temperature. The Antarctic Desert, which includes the vast ice sheets of Antarctica, covers an area of about 14 million square kilometers, making it the largest desert by far. It receives very little precipitation and is technically the driest place on Earth.
In comparison, Africa's Sahara Desert, which is the largest hot desert, spans approximately 9.2 million square kilometers. Antarctica's extreme cold, strong winds, and the fact that it is the continent with the highest average elevation contribute to the low humidity and scarce precipitation, qualifying it as a desert, specifically a cold desert. The Sahara Desert is indeed the largest desert under the typical image of a desert landscape and is substantial in size, but when considering all types of deserts, including cold ones, Antarctica remains the largest.