desolate
Americanadjective
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barren or laid waste; devastated.
a treeless, desolate landscape.
- Synonyms:
- bleak
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deprived or destitute of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited.
- Synonyms:
- remote
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a desolate life.
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having the feeling of being abandoned by friends or by hope; forlorn.
-
desolate prospects.
adjective
-
uninhabited; deserted
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made uninhabitable; laid waste; devastated
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without friends, hope, or encouragement; forlorn, wretched, or abandoned
-
gloomy or dismal; depressing
verb
-
to deprive of inhabitants; depopulate
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to make barren or lay waste; devastate
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to make wretched or forlorn
-
to forsake or abandon
Related Words
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 Word Forms
- desolately adverb
- desolateness noun
- desolater noun
- desolator noun
- quasi-desolate adjective
- quasi-desolately adverb
Etymology
Origin of desolate
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Latin dēsōlātus “forsaken,” past participle of dēsōlāre, from dē- de- + sōlāre “to make lonely” (derivative of sōlus sole 1 )
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
