Desolate

Definition: Desolate

Desolate

Adjective

1. Providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape".

2. Pitiable in circumstances especially through abandonment; "desolate and despairing"; "left forlorn".

3. Crushed by grief; "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail".

4. Made uninhabitable; "upon this blasted heath"- Shakespeare; "a wasted landscape".

Verb

1. Leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; "The mother deserted her children".

2. Reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the countryside".

3. Devastate or ravage; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "desolate" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Synonyms: Desolate

Dejection

Disconsolate; unconsolable, inconsolable; forlorn, comfortless, desolate, desole, sick at heart; soul sick, heart sick; au desespoir; in despair; lost.

Destruction

Deal destruction, desolate, devastate, lay waste, ravage gut; disorganize; dismantle; (render useless); devour, swallow up, sap, mine, blast, bomb, blow to smithereens, drop the big one, confound; exterminate, extinguish, quench, annihilate; snuff out, put out, stamp out, trample out; lay in the dust, trample in the dust; prostrate; tread under foot; crush under foot, trample under foot; lay the ax to the root of; make short work of, make clean sweep of, make mincemeat of; cut up root and branch, chop into pieces, cut into ribbons; fling to the winds, scatter to the winds; throw overboard; strike at the root of, sap the foundations of, spring a mine, blow up, ravage with fire and sword; cast to the dogs; eradicate.

Hopelessness

Adjective: hopeless, desperate, despairing, gone, in despair, au desespoir, forlorn, desolate; inconsolable; (dejected); broken hearted.

Seclusion Exclusion

Estranged; unfrequented; uninhabitable, uninhabited; tenantless; abandoned; deserted, deserted in one's utmost need; unfriended; kithless, friendless, homeless; lorn, forlorn, desolate.

Unity

Lone, lonely, lonesome; desolate, dreary. insecable,

Crosswords: Desolate

What a desolate, forsaken place (King Dinosaur; writing credit: Bert I. Gordon; Tom Gries)

It isn't a hospital! It's a desolate island haunted by death (Jezebel; writing credit: Owen Davis; Clements Ripley)

See I was so desolate (Thank God I Found You; performing artist: 98 Degrees)

Everything is frail, I desolate, crush, and burn (Warheart; performing artist: Children)

Desolate loving in your eyes (Church of the Poison Mind; performing artist: Culture Club)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Desolate City (reference)

• Desolate Landscapes: Ice-Age Settlement in Eastern Europe (The Rutgers Series in Human Evolution, Edited by Robert Trivers (New).) (reference)

• I Will Not Leave You Desolate (reference)

• Lost Souls: A Bizarre Vayage into the Lives of the Desolate That Run Wild in Search of Deliverance (reference)

• Mountains of the Mind: How Desolate nd Forbidding Heights Were Transformed into Experiences Ofindomitable Spirit (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Desolate (reference)

• Desolate Situations, Vol. 1 [EXPLICIT LYRICS] (reference)

• Paradigms for Desolate Times (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

This desolate landscape is part of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, on the border between the Coahuila and Nuevo Leon provinces of Mexico. Credit: NASA.

Wildflowers located in the middle of desolate rangeland area. Credit: Unknown.

Ruins of Stalingrad, Russia, Sept. 1942: three German soldiers walking down desolate street. Credit: Library of Congress.

Son of agricultural day laborer living near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. The father with his son and daughter lived in this desolate two-room shack. Muskogee County, Oklahoma. Credit: Library of Congress.

Carrboro, North Carolina, is a desolate town because its only industry-- textiles-- has completely closed down. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Thus people, riches, trade, power, change their stations, flourishing mighty cities come to ruin, and prove in times neglected desolate corners, whilst other unfrequented places grow into populous countries, filled with wealth and inhabitants. (Second Treatise of Government)

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. (Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1929)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

The country was desolate and gloomy

I bemoaned my desolate widow, and fatherless children

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

Niger

Considerable evidence indicates that about 600,000 years ago, humans inhabited what has since become the desolate Sahara of northern Niger. (references)

China

In 1934, driven out of their mountain bases, the CCP's forces embarked on a "Long March" across some of China's most desolate terrain to the northwestern province of Shaanxi, where they established a guerrilla base at Yan'an. (references)

Pakistan

In April 1984, tensions erupted after troops were deployed to the Siachen Glacier, a high-altitude desolate area close to the China border left undemarcated by the cease-fire agreement (Karachi Agreement) signed by Pakistan and India in 1949. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "desolate": be desolate ♦ become desolate ♦ blasted desolate desolated devastated ravaged ruined wasted ♦ desolate place. Additional references.

Beginning with "desolate": desolate-andmisunderstood, desolate-looking.

Albanian

shkretoj (devastate, impoverish, overrun, reave, reive), i vetmuar (bleak, cloistered, eremitic, lone, lonely, lonesome, out of the way, private, privy, recluse, remote, retired, secluded, solitary), i shkretë (blessed, desert, deserted, devoid of inhabitants, inhospitable, lifeless, lonely, lonesome, poor, waste, wild), i shkatërruar (bombed out, broken, ramshackle, smitten, tumble down, uncreated, unstuck), i rrënuar (decrepit, dilapidated, disreputable, effete, goner, impoverished, lost, ramshackle, tumble down, tumbledown, up the spout), i pabanuar (desert, uninhabited, untenantable), i mjerë (abject, crummy, dismal, forlorn, ill fated, ill-starred, infelicitous, lowlife, miserable, paltry, penurious, pimping, piteous, sorry, unhappy, unlucky, worm), i braktisur (cast off, castaway, derelict, forgotten, forlorn, forsaken, godforsaken, lorn, love-lorn, neglected, odd, stand empty, untrodden, waste). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كئيب (bleak, blue, cheerless, damp, dark, dejected, depressed, depressing, depressive, disconsolate, dismal, dispirited, distressful, distressing, doleful, dolorous, down, downcast, down-hearted, drear, dreary, droopy, dyspeptic, funeral, funereal, gloomy, glum, gray, grey, grief-stricken, grieved, grievous, heavy-hearted, ill, joyless, leaden, lifeless, low-spirited, melancholic, melancholy, moody, mournful, out of spirits, rueful, sad, saddening, somber, sombre, spiritless, sullen, tearful, weary), ‏مهجور (abandoned, antiquated, archaic, archaism, bygone, derelict, deserted, disused, forlorn, forsaken, in disuse, lonely, lonesome, obsolete, outdated, outmoded, solitary, unfrequented), ‏مقفر (lifeless), ‏وقع الكآبة فى نفسه, ‏تاسف, ‏خرب (blight, destroy, devastate, dilapidate, dilapidated, fallen, go to pot, gum, harm, harry, havoc, overthrow, play havoc with, pull down, ravage, ruin, ruined, ruinous, sabotage, spoil, waste, wreck), ‏دمر (annihilate, blast, break down, demolish, destroy, devastate, flatten, immolate, overthrow, prey, pull down, pulverize, ravage, ruin, smash, subvert, unbuild, wrack, wreck), ‏بائس (afflicted, cheerless, deplorable, devil, disconsolate, distressed, forlorn, godforsaken, hapless, heel, helpless, lamentable, measly, miserable, paltry, pathetic, penurious, piteous, pitiful, poor, poverty stricken, ratty, sad, scruffy, seedy, sickly, sordid, squalid, unfortunate, unhappy, woeful, wretched). (various references)

Bulgarian 

самотен (friendless, lone, lonely, lonesome, lorn, secluded, single, solitary, unfriended), сиротен (motherless), разрушен (blasted, ruinous), тъжен (bleak, cheerless, disconsolate, dismal, distressed, doleful, dull, dusky, elegiac, gloomy, heavy, joyless, lonesome, lugubrious, melancholy, minor, mirthless, mournful, pensive, plaintive, sad, sick, sickly, sorrowful, tristful, wan, wistful, woebegone, woeful), опустял (deserted), неутешим (comfortless, disconsolate, inconsolable), запустял (waste), безлюден (deserted, empty), пуст (bleak, desert, deserted, drear, empty, harsh, inane, infernal, inhospitable, uncouth, uninhabited, vacant, vain, waste, wild, yeasty), покрусвам (afflict, break smb.'s heart, distress, mortify), изоставен (abandoned, derelict, destitute, forlorn, forsaken, lorn, on the shelf, uncared for, uncultivated, untended). (various references)

Chinese 

落寞, 荒涼 , 煢 (alone), 惘 , 惸 (alone), 淒涼 . (various references)

Czech

zpustlý (debauched, depraved, dissolute, raffish, rakish, uncared for, vicious), pustý (bleak, desert, dreary, godforsaken, hollow, stark, void, waste, wild), opuštìný (abandoned, derelict, deserted, destitute, forlorn, forsaken, friendless, uninhabited), bezútìšný (bleak, cheerless, comfortless, dreary, gaunt, grim, miserable). (various references)

Dutch

troosteloos (dismal, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, mournful), somber (bleak, dark, dismal, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, miserable, mournful, sad, somber, sullen), naargeestig (bleak, dismal, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, miserable, mournful, sad, somber, sullen). (various references)

Esperanto

senkonsola, morna (dismal, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, mournful). (various references)

Faeroese

dapur (dismal, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, mournful, sad), tyngjandi (dismal, dreary, gaunt, gloomy, mournful). (various references)

Farsi 

متروک (Bleak, Derelict, Lonely), مخروبه کردن , ویران کردن (Demolish, Destroy, Devastate, Gaunt, Harry, Havoc, Knockout, Ravage, Raze, Rubble, Ruinate, Throw), ویران (Ruinous, Subversive), حزین , ازابادی انداختن (Depopulate), بی جمعیت . (various references)

Finnish

synkkä (bleak, dark, dreary, gloomy, moody, sullen), kolkko (dismal, dreary, gloomy, gruesome, raw), autio (uninhabited, waste). (various references)

French

détruire (demolish, destroy), désolé, déserté (deserted), délaissé (derelict, deserted), sombre, solitaire, se désoler, s'affliger, saccager (devastate), ravager (destroy, devastate), ravagé, morne, au désespoir, affligé. (various references)

German

verwüsten (devastate, ravage, to desolate, to devastate, to ravage, vandalize, waste). (various references)

Greek 

έρημοσ (bleak, derelict, desert, forlorn, lonesome, waste, wilderness), ερημώνω (depopulate, devastate, lay waste, ravage), ερημωμένοσ, ακατοίκητοσ (uninhabitable, uninhabited), απελπισμένοσ (abject, despairing, desperate, hopeless). (various references)

Hebrew 

מדוכדך (crestfallen, despondent, doldrums, down in the mouth, dumpy, gloomy, glum, melancholy, somber), מבולק (empty), לחרוב (be destroyed, waste), שמם (devastated, forsaken, infertile), שומם (bleak, derelict, empty, lonely), אבל (but, funereal, however, indeed, lamenter, mourner, mournful, only), חרב (arid, cold steel, destroyed, knife, parched, ruined, steel, sword, waste), גלמוד (barren, forlorn, lonely, lonesome, solitary, sterile). (various references)

Hungarian

vigasztalan (comfortless, darksome, distressed, inconsolable), elhagyatott (abandoned, deserted, forlorn, friendless, gaunt, helpless, lone, lorn, neglected, recluse, secluded, solitary). (various references)

Indonesian

terpencil (reclusive, remote, solitary), merusakkan (deface, deleterious, destroy, foozie, queer, wreck), buas (cruel, ferocious, furious, savage, wild). (various references)

Italian

desolato (bare, desolated, desolates, devastates, disconsolate, dreary, gaunt, god forsaken, sick, sorry, stark, waste). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

寂然 (lonely), 寂しい (lonely, lonesome, solitary). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

さくぜん (dry), さくばくたる (bleak, dreary), さびしい (lonely, lonesome, solitary), さむざむ (wintry), さみしい (lonely, lonesome, solitary), せきぜんたる (lonely), せきぜん (accumulation of good deeds, eye, lonely, one eye), せきりょうたる (lonely), こうりょうたる (dreary), こうりょう (advance for manuscript, bleak, broad-hearted, collar, comparison, condolence gift, consideration, copy-money, deliberation, dragon which has already ascended to the heavens, duchy, dukedom, flavoring, general plan, generosity, hidden genius, hill, imperial mausoleum, main points, neck, perfume, principality, proofreading completed, radiation intensity, rain dragon, rations, spices, summary), あらあらしい (gruff, harsh, rough, rude, violent, wild), らくばくたる (dreary, lonesome), らくばく, じゃくねん (lonely, youth). (various references)

Korean 

황량한. (various references)

Manx

traartyssey (butcher, desolating, massacre), follym feayn (wild, wild as terrain), follym faase (barren, barren land, waste, waste in town, wild, wild as terrain), fadanagh (lonely), faasagh (desert, waste place, wild, wilderness). (various references)

Norwegian

ulykkelig (unhappy), øde (gaunt). (various references)

Pig Latin

esolateday.(various references)

Portuguese

desolado (bereaved, bereft, devastated, gaunt, lorn, mourning, sorry, waste, woebegone). (various references)

Romanian

dezola (afflict, grieve), devasta (devastate, forage, foray, gut, havoc, lay waste, play among havoc, play with havoc, ravage, reave, Rob, rummage, sack, wear away), deşert (bare, desert, empty, futile, unfounded, unoccupied, vacant, vacuum, vain, vainglorious, void, waste, wilderness), sterp (arenaceous, arid, bare, barren, dead, hungry, infructuous, jejune, lean, sterile), singuratic (forlorn, isolated, lone, lone wolf, lonely, loner, one-aloner, recluse, remote, seclusive, secret, single, solitary), pustiu (bare, blank, bleak, desert, deserted, empty, gaunt, senseless, solitary, solitude, uninhabited, unoccupied, useless, waste, wild, wilderness), pustii (devastate, forage, foray, gut, Harry, havoc, ravage, wear away), pãrãsit (abandoned, depopulated, derelict, deserted, forlorn, forsaken, godforsaken, lorn, neglected, rusty), mâhni (afflict, aggrieve, deject, distress, grieve, pain, pique, sadden), abandona (abandon, break off an engagement, deliver up, desert, drop, expose, forsake, leave, part with, quit, relent, relinquish, renounce, repudiate, resign, shelve, spare, throw). (various references)

Russian 

опустошать заброшенный, одинокий (alone, friendless, lone, lonely, single, solitary), несчастный (disconsolate, hapless, hard, infelicitous, lack-all, lorn, miserable, pitiable, poor, sorry, star-crossed, unblessed, unfortunate, unhappy, woeful, wretch, wretched), заброшенный (abandoned, deserted, godforsaken, neglected, uncared for), запустелый (neglected), безлюдный (deserted, unmanned), покинутый (abandoned, derelict, forlorn, forsaken, lorn, love-lorn). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

rušiti (demolish, dilapidate, raze, tear down), pustošiti (infest, maraud, raven), neutešan (brokenhearted, comfortless, disappointing, disconsolate, inconsolable), nenaseljen (desert), napustiti (abandon, cast off, desert, drop, drop out, fall away, forsake, give away, jilt, leave, quit, run out, take leave of, throw over, vacate, walk out), napušten (abandoned, bereaved, derelict, deserted, forsaken, lonely). (various references)

Spanish

desolar (devastate, ravage), desolado (bleak, gaunt, heart broken), solitario (alone, isolated, lone, lonely, lonesome, obscure, patience, recluse, seclusive, solitaire, solitary), asolar (devastate, Harry, rase, raze, ruin), arruinado (bankrupt, broken, bust, dilapidated, dilapidates, ruined, scuttles), afligido (afflicted, aggrieved, bereaved, bleak, dismal, distressed, dreary, gaunt, miserable, mournful, pained, sad, somber, sorrowful, sorry, stricken, sullen, troubled), abandonado (abandoned, abandonee, derelict, deserted, forlorn, neglected, tackily, uncared for). (various references)

Swedish

ensam (alone, lone, lonely, lonesome, lorn, on one's own, only, private, single handed, singly, sole, solely, solitary, unaided, unattended), ödslig (desert, dreary, lonely, lonesome). (various references)

Turkish

terketmek (cede, desert, discard, disuse, ditch, expose, fall off, flee, forsake, jack in, jilt, leave, relinquish, revolt from, throw over, void, walk away, walk on, walk out of, walk out on), terkedilmiş (abandoned, derelict, deserted, disused, forlorn, forsaken, lovelorn, vacant), tenha (deserted, forsaken, unfrequented, uninhabited, widowed, wild), perişan etmek (bring to ruin, drag down, prostrate, scatter), perişan (confused, dead beat, dead end, distraught, down and out, down at heels, forlorn, hangdog, out at elbows, poor, prostrate, ruinous, run down, scattered, seedy, shoestring, up the spout, wretched), kimsesiz bırakmak (orphan, orphanize), kimsesiz (all alone, alone, forlorn, lone, orphan, outcast, solitary), harap (creaky, devastated, dilapidated, ramshackle, ratty, ruined, ruinous, waste, wrack and ruin), üzmek (affect, afflict, aggrieve, agitate, break up, cast down, chagrin, deject, disgruntle, distress, fret, grieve, grind, grind down, hatchel, hit, lacerate, lead smb. a dance, mope, pain, pother, put out, sadden, shake, spite, trouble, vex, worry), ıssız (desert, deserted, forlorn, forsaken, isolated, retired, solitary, stark, unfrequented, uninhabited, void, waste, widowed, wild). (various references)

Ukrainian

самітний (alone, cloistered, close, friendless, lone, private, privy, single, singular, solitary, widowed), спустошувати (bare, decimate, deplenish, deplete, depredate, devastate, foray, gut, havoc, lay waste, overrun, play havoc, ravage, reave, reive, waste), кидати (abandon, aim, buzz, cast, chop, chuck, dart, dash, depart, desert, elance, fall away, fling, pack in, pelt, pitch, plonk, project, sling, throw, throw down, throw up, toss), незаселений, зруйнований (blasted, broken down, frustrated, raddled, ruined), занедбаний (forsaken, godforsaken, neglected, shabby, uncared for, uncouth), залишати (abandon, chuck, depart, desert, forsake, give over, leave, quit, relinquish, throw over, void), збезлюдити, безлюдний (desert, deserted), покинутий (abandoned, desert, deserted, forgotten, forlorn, forsaken, lone, lovelorn, outcast, solitary, waif). (various references)

Vietnamese 

tiêu điều bị ruồng bỏ, tan hoang, sầu não, không người ở (deserted), cô độc đau buồn, buồn phiền (gizzard, heart, sorrowful), bơ vơ (helpless, lone, lonely, lonesome), bị tàn phá, bị bỏ rơi; lẻ loi, đổ nát hoang vắng. (various references)

Welsh

anial (desert, fine, grievous, wild, wilderness). (various references)

feasceaftig. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "desolate": desolated, desolately, desolateness, desolatenesses, desolater, desolaters, desolates. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Desolate" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Deodato, depollute, descolate, desiate, desipate, Desolato, desolute, diolate, resolate. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: delates, elodeas, oleates, solated.

-2 letters: aldose, delate, deltas, desalt, elated, elates, eldest, elodea, lasted, leased, oldest, oleate, osteal, salted, sealed, seated, sedate, slated, solate, staled, stelae, stoled, teased, teasel.

-3 letters: aedes, aloes, altos, dales, dates, datos, deals, dealt, deets, deles, delta, delts, doats, doest, doles, dolts, dotal, dotes, eased, easel, elate, lades, lased.

+1 letter: desolated, desolater, desolates, endosteal.

+2 letters: adolescent, decollates, defoliates, delegators, desolately, desolaters, oversalted, petalodies.

+3 letters: adolescents, aldosterone, delegations, delineators, demodulates, depopulates, edulcorates, endosteally, forestalled, goaltenders, stakeholder, steamrolled, stonewalled.

+4 letters: adolescently, aldosterones, constellated, decelerators, decolletages, deescalation, delectations, delineations, demonstrable, depilatories, desolateness, dilatometers, endoskeletal, expostulated, leatherwoods, nondelegates, nucleotidase, postdeadline, postmedieval, softheadedly, somersaulted, stakeholders, tradespeople.

+5 letters: andouillettes, considerately, coresidential, decelerations, dechlorinates, deescalations, deliberations, deregulations, dermatologies, dieselization, dilatometries, editorializes, endotheliomas, lepidopterans, melodramatise, nucleotidases, pentaploidies, preadolescent, radioelements, reconsolidate, sclerodermata, softheartedly, steamrollered, subadolescent, superovulated, tetraploidies, valedictories.