 desolate |
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| 1. | [ adjective ] providing no shelter or sustenance | |
| Synonyms: | bleak barren stark bare | |
| Examples: | "bare rocky hills" "barren lands" "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes" "the desolate surface of the moon" "a stark landscape" |
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| Related terms: | inhospitable | |
| 2. | [ adjective ] pitiable in circumstances especially through abandonment | |
| Synonyms: | forlorn lorn godforsaken | |
| Examples: | "desolate and despairing" "left forlorn" |
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| Related terms: | forsaken | |
| 3. | [ adjective ] made uninhabitable | |
| Synonyms: | desolated devastated ravaged ruined wasted blasted | |
| Examples: | "upon this blasted heath"- Shakespeare "a wasted landscape" |
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| Related terms: | destroyed | |
| 4. | [ verb ] reduce in population | |
| Synonyms: | depopulate | |
| Examples: | "The epidemic depopulated the countryside" |
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| Related terms: | shrink devastation | |
| 5. | [ adjective ] crushed by grief | |
| Examples: | "depressed and desolate of soul" "a low desolate wail" |
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| Related terms: | inconsolable | |
| 6. | [ verb ] leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch | |
| Synonyms: | desert forsake abandon lurch | |
| Examples: | "The mother deserted her children" |
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| Related terms: | leave maroon ditch walk_out expose desertion forlornness forsaking | |
| 7. | [ verb ] devastate or ravage | |
| Synonyms: | devastate waste ravage scourge lay_waste_to | |
| Examples: | "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion" |
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| Related terms: | destroy ruin destruction devastation bane ravaging bleakness devastation destroyer | |
| Similar spelling: |
desolated desolately decollete desolation decolletage |
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