Donna dancing around graduate in desert (7)
I believe the answer is:
abandon
'desert' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'donna dancing around graduate' is the wordplay.
'dancing' is an anagram indicator.
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'graduate' becomes 'BA' (someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree).
'donna' is an anagram of 'andon'.
'andon' enclosing 'ba' is 'ABANDON'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for abandon that I've seen before include "Desert; give up (action)" , "dump" , "Completely give up; desert" , "Jack in" , "a complete lack of restraint" .)