desolate

[ adjective des-uh-lit; verb des-uh-leyt ]

/ adjective ˈdɛs ə lɪt; verb ˈdɛs əˌleɪt /

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adjective

barren or laid waste; devastated: a treeless, desolate landscape.

deprived or destitute of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited.

solitary; lonely: a desolate place.

having the feeling of being abandoned by friends or by hope; forlorn.

dreary; dismal; gloomy: desolate prospects.

verb (used with object), des·o·lat·ed, des·o·lat·ing.

to lay waste; devastate.

to deprive of inhabitants; depopulate.

to make disconsolate.

to forsake or abandon.

Nearby words

desmoulins, camille, desna, desnood, deso, desocialize, desolate, desolation, desonide, desorb, desorption, desoximetasone

Origin of desolate

1325–75; Middle English < Latin dēsōlātus forsaken, past participle of dēsōlāre, equivalent to dē- de- + sōlāre to make lonely, derivative of sōlus sole¹; see -ate¹

SYNONYMS FOR desolate

1 ravaged.

2 desert.

4 lonesome, lost; miserable, wretched, woebegone, woeful, inconsolable, cheerless, hopeless.

6 ravage, ruin.

8 sadden, depress.

9 desert.

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ANTONYMS FOR desolate

4 delighted, happy.

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Related forms

des·o·late·ly, adverbdes·o·late·ness, noundes·o·lat·er, des·o·la·tor, nounqua·si-des·o·late, adjective

qua·si-des·o·late·ly, adverb

Can be confuseddesolate dissolute

Synonym study

4. Desolate, disconsolate, forlorn suggest one who is in a sad and wretched condition. The desolate person is deprived of human consolation, relationships, or presence: desolate and despairing. The disconsolate person is aware of the efforts of others to console and comfort, but is unable to be relieved or cheered by them: She remained disconsolate even in the midst of friends. The forlorn person is lost, deserted, or forsaken by friends: wretched and forlorn in a strange city.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for desolate

Louisa also devotes much of her time to feeding underprivileged children in the desolate Kurland Village in South Africa.
These Female Contemporaries Weren’t Afraid of Virginia Woolf|Louisa Treger|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Here, only the twisting grey concrete under his tires disturbed the desolate wild.
A Belgian Prince, Gorillas, Guerrillas & the Future of the Congo|Nina Strochlic|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He was visiting San Francisco and had questions about Desolate Angel.
Kerouac Biographer Gets Back on the Road|Dennis McNally|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But Nev had been betrayed by his church, and his heart-broken death left his family poor and desolate.
Tim Winton's Beautiful, Baffling 'Eyrie'|Wendy Smith|August 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Do you remember the scene in which the mayor and his cronies take Dmitri to this desolate place and threaten him with a gun?
Inside ‘Leviathan’: Russian Filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Award-Winning Anti-Putin Cannes Film|Richard Porton|May 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The ancient city presented a strange and desolate appearance on the succeeding morning, in the neighbourhood of the public square.
The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 1 of 2|William A. Caruthers
Sometimes, too, they were found in deep forests, and many travellers are supposed to find them in desolate mountain places.
Fairy Tales; Their Origin and Meaning|John Thackray Bunce
He pictured his country ravaged, broken, desolate, buffeted like a shuttlecock between the rackets of fate.
The Blood Red Dawn|Charles Caldwell Dobie
And so she goes beyond the seas, leaving her parents as desolate as were Isaac and Rebecca of old.
Janet of the Dunes|Harriet T. Comstock
He only knew that Binhart was dead, and that he himself was groping his way out into the night, a broken and desolate man.
The Shadow|Arthur Stringer

British Dictionary definitions for desolate

desolate

adjective (ˈdɛsəlɪt)

uninhabited; deserted

made uninhabitable; laid waste; devastated

without friends, hope, or encouragement; forlorn, wretched, or abandoned

gloomy or dismal; depressing

verb (ˈdɛsəˌleɪt) (tr)

to deprive of inhabitants; depopulate

to make barren or lay waste; devastate

to make wretched or forlorn

to forsake or abandon

Derived Formsdesolater or desolator, noundesolately, adverbdesolateness, noun

Word Origin for desolate

C14: from Latin dēsōlāre to leave alone, from de- + sōlāre to make lonely, lay waste, from sōlus alone

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for desolate (1 of 2)

desolate

adj.

mid-14c., "without companions," also "uninhabited," from Latin desolatus, past participle of desolare "leave alone, desert," from de- "completely" (see de-) + solare "make lonely," from solus "alone" (see sole (adj.)). Sense of "joyless" is 15c.

Word Origin and History for desolate (1 of 2)

desolate

late 14c., from desolate (adj.). Related: Desolated; desolating.

desolate

adjective

verb (used with object), des·o·lat·ed, des·o·lat·ing.

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Origin of desolate

Synonym study

Examples from the Web for desolate

British Dictionary definitions for desolate

desolate

adjective (ˈdɛsəlɪt)

verb (ˈdɛsəˌleɪt) (tr)

Word Origin for desolate

Word Origin and History for desolate (1 of 2)

desolate

Word Origin and History for desolate (1 of 2)

desolate