desolation

[ des-uh-ley-shuhn ]

noun

1. an act or instance of destroying or devastating land, population, community, etc:

   The war’s desolation of the land destroyed years of hard and hopeful work.

2. the state of being destroyed or devastated, as land, population, community, etc.:

   The utter desolation of the Western Front was captured in unforgettable photographs.

3. dreariness; barrenness:

   The poet fashions a mood of desolation and despair in his works.

4. deprivation of companionship; loneliness:

   Some homesteaders could not endure the desolation of life on the prairie, and returned to the city.

5. sorrow; grief; woe:

   She was so deep in her desolation, we don’t know if our words of comfort reached her.

6. a desolate place:

   The town was once a desolation.

desolation

/ ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of desolating or the state of being desolated; ruin or devastation
2. solitary misery; wretchedness
3. a desolate region; barren waste

Word History and Origins

Origin of desolation¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English desolacioun, dis(s)olacioun, from Late Latin dēsōlātiōn- (stem of dēsōlātiō ) “abandonment,” equivalent to dēsōlāt(us) desolate ( def ) + -iōn- -ion ( def )

Example Sentences

Originally formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1978, The Cure continue to endure as alternative rock’s goth icons - pitching lyrics of love, angst and desolation against a kaleidoscope of melodies.

From BBC

To the massive relief of the state’s agribusiness, this outbreak and most of those to come — unlike the desolation of Florida’s commercial agriculture — were aggressively confined pretty much to small-scale commercial growers and to gentlemen cultivators with backyard trees, the kind of pocket orchards that had enticed Midwestern immigrants here with the promise that you could just step off your back porch to pluck your morning orange.

From Los Angeles Times

The desolation of Kristofferson's downbeat delivery tells you this song is about much more than a bad hangover.

From BBC

Furiosa is a child of desolation.

From Seattle Times

The blistering heat — with an average high temperature that’s more than 100 degrees four months of the year — only heightens the sense of desolation.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• anguish
• despair
• loneliness
• misery
• sadness
• sorrow