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

When I was 19—long before I ever thought I would land a career writing about space—I dreamed I was standing on the surface of Mars, looking over a rusted desert dotted with rocks, stuck in a perpetual lukewarm dusk, transfixed by the desolation.

From MIT Technology Review

A breakup letter from you after 10 months once again sows in me the same desolation of that goodbye.

From Washington Blade

All the little rootlets of sentiment which must be cut off in the process bleed and suffer and a period of desolation as well as isolation must ensue in all such cases.

From Washington Post

Unlike corporate behemoths of an earlier age, Amazon doesn’t want an enormous corporate campus, with a security perimeter, designated entrances and a lush landscape of meticulously curated grassy desolation and green despair.

From Washington Post

Saudi photographer Moath Alofi evokes desolation with a wide shot of desert sprinkled with abandoned cars.

From Washington Post

It is the desolation of exiled Tibetans that dominates the tenor here, but it is not the only one.

From The Daily Beast

As you work through the collection, the scenes become more stagnant, more still, as desolation takes over.

From The Daily Beast

The first is our quintessentially modern desolation, a “falling in all directions.”

From The Daily Beast

Some people assume that if you can't speak or hear, you live in a cage of silence and desolation.

From The Daily Beast

His up-tempo songs had undercurrents of solitude, and the ballads that became his specialty were suffused with stoic desolation.

From The Daily Beast

The door was open, and the woman and the child stood dumbfounded and overwhelmed in a scene of incredible desolation.

From Project Gutenberg

For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish: and the Gentiles shall be wasted with desolation.

From Project Gutenberg

Under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, the prophet foresheweth the desolation of the Jews for their sins.

From Project Gutenberg

And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

From Project Gutenberg

A prophecy of the desolation of Moab for their pride: but their captivity shall at last be released.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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