desolate

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Origin of desolate

1325–75; Middle English <Latin dēsōlātus forsaken, past participle of dēsōlāre, equivalent to dē-de- + sōlāre to make lonely, derivative of sōlussole¹; see -ate¹

synonym study for desolate

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.

OTHER WORDS FROM desolate

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

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH desolate

desolate , dissolute

Words nearby desolate

Desmoulins, Desna, desnood, deso, desocialize, desolate, desolation, desorb, desorption, De Soto, desoxy-

How to use desolate in a sentence

Nothing beats hauling your truckload of beer coolers and puffy mattresses and folding chairs and half-cord of split pine into the hinterland and setting up a free campsite on some desolate piece of ground and proceeding to do nothing for a few days.
Do I Have to Share My Campsite?|Sundog|June 3, 2021|Outside Online
I have to close my eyes to picture how desolate my neighborhood looked last year, with most everything closed and the near-constant wail of ambulances in the background.
Here's the One Post-Pandemic Resolution I Want To Keep|Susanna Schrobsdorff|May 23, 2021|Time
This one sits high atop a desolate moor overlooking Maud’s seaside town and its even bleaker cheap carnival atmosphere.
One Good Thing: The gorgeous horror movie St. Maud finds religious ecstasy in self-destruction|Aja Romano|May 14, 2021|Vox
The real tragedy of Ethan Winters is that despite the game’s every effort to portray him as a desolate vessel for the player, his dogged, dumb persistence finally allowed a part of himself to pierce through.
The real tragedy of Ethan Winters, Resident Evil’s ‘Village’ idiot|Gene Park|May 14, 2021|Washington Post

The novel, an enormous influence on modern zombie horror, channels Atomic Age anxiety by depicting formerly bustling neighborhoods as newly desolate.
Politics and the pandemic have changed how we imagine cities|Joanne McNeil|April 28, 2021|MIT Technology Review
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
In 1979 I published Desolate Angel/Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America.
Kerouac Biographer Gets Back on the Road|Dennis McNally|October 2, 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
If anything, the ending of Mother Courage is even more desolate than that of Godot—at least Vladimir and Estragon had each other.
Brecht's Mercenary Mother Courage Turns 75|Katie Baker|September 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing beside a desolate rock on the seashore.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
They burnt the chosen city of holiness, and made the streets thereof desolate according to the prediction of Jeremias.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
When the funeral was over, and they returned to their desolate home, at the sight of the empty cradle Ramona broke down.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall sit desolate on the ground.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various

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 forms of desolate

desolater 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

desolate

OTHER WORDS FOR desolate

OPPOSITES FOR desolate

Origin of desolate

synonym study for desolate

OTHER WORDS FROM desolate

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH desolate

Words nearby desolate

Words related to desolate

How to use desolate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for desolate

Derived forms of desolate

Word Origin for desolate