Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

desolate en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

/ˈdɛs.ə.lət/
(US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English desolat(e). See Etymology 2 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.

Meanings

Deserted and devoid of inhabitants.
- I will make Jerusalem […] a den of dragons, and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 9:11:
- There are few sights that leave a railway lover more wistful than a desolate railway viaduct no longer carrying tracks. As with tunnels, so much effort was made to conquer the landscape, yet so many now stand forlorn. 2025 November 26, Tim Dunn, “Lost and found: historical assets”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 55:
- a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house
- And the silvery marish flowers that throng / The desolate creeks and pools among. 1830, Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Dying Swan:
Barren and lifeless.
Made unfit for habitation or use because of neglect, destruction etc.
- desolate altars
Dismal or dreary.
Sad, forlorn and hopeless.
- He was left desolate by the early death of his wife.
- Any help and suggestions from our gay brothers and sisters would be appreciated from this isolated camp. We need some contacts: lawyers, organizations, or people who are concerned enough to help. We are two desolate, suppressed lesbians! We are seeking help from anyone who will help us fight for our rights. 1983 December 10, Mike Riegle, quoting Lorrie Ong and Jackie Jackson, “Sexual Politics of "Crime": Inside and Out”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 21, page 5:
- voice of the poor and desolate 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
most desolate	Degree=Sup		lexicographic
more desolate	Degree=Cmp		lexicographic

Translations (148)

pt desolado (unfit for habitation) · nb utrøstelig (hopeless) · pt deserto (deserted) · de verlassen (unfit for habitation) · ca desolat (unfit for habitation) · da øde (deserted) · dsb pusty (deserted) · hu lakhatatlan (unfit for habitation) · bg необитаем (unfit for habitation) · mi tūhea (deserted) · eo dezerta (unfit for habitation) · ro abandonat (deserted) · nb øde (deserted) · ota خراب (deserted) · is mannlaus (deserted) · hy անմխիթար (hopeless) · hi वीरान (deserted) · hi निर्जन (deserted) · sv öde (deserted) · bg безутешен (hopeless) · bcl makapungaw (deserted) · hy լքված (deserted) · ar مَهْجُور (deserted) · da ulykkelig (hopeless) · ca desolat (deserted) · pdt eed (barren, lifeless) · hy թշվառ (dismal) · is auðnarlegur (barren, lifeless) · hy բարձիթողի (unfit for habitation) · is vonlaus (hopeless) · la vastus (deserted) · mi rohai (deserted) · et kõle (barren, lifeless) · ru поки́нутый (deserted) · got 𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (deserted) · pt desolado (deserted) · uk спустілий (deserted) · sl opustel (deserted) · pt inabitado (deserted) · bg пуст (barren, lifeless) · ru упа́дочный (barren, lifeless) · ota ویران (deserted) · ca devastat (barren, lifeless) · ru ску́дный (dismal) · got 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌺𐌻𐍃 (deserted) · bcl makapungaw (hopeless) · ja 寂しい (dismal) · de verlassen (deserted) · ja 荒れた (barren, lifeless) · de öde (dismal) · hu reménytelen (hopeless) · da fortvivlet (hopeless) · uk опустілий (deserted) · de trostlos (hopeless) · hy անբնակ (deserted) · az tənha (deserted) · hu elhagyatott (deserted) · bcl makapungaw (dismal) · is gróðurlaus (barren, lifeless) · is yfirgefinn (deserted) · ro deșert (deserted) · el παρατημένος (deserted) · da trøstesløs (dismal) · pt devastado (hopeless) · ca abatut (hopeless) · ota ویران (unfit for habitation) · pt ermo (deserted) · az yalqız (deserted) · is hrjóstrugur (barren, lifeless) · sl zapuščen (deserted) · ca desolat (hopeless) · it nero (dismal) · hy լքված (unfit for habitation) · ru необитаемый (deserted) · el μελαγχολικός (dismal) · ca desert (barren, lifeless) · cmn 荒涼 /荒凉 (deserted) · ja 寂れた (deserted) · hi सुनसान (deserted) · ota خراب (unfit for habitation) · pt desolado (hopeless) · pt desabitado (deserted) · az boş (deserted) · ca devastat (hopeless) · hu sivár (barren, lifeless) · fr désert (deserted) · bcl makapungaw (unfit for habitation) · hy ամայի (deserted) · da ubeboet (deserted) · hi बंजर (barren, lifeless) · it deserto (deserted) · el ζοφερός (dismal) · sl pust (barren, lifeless) · bg безлюден (deserted) · el έρημος (barren, lifeless) · ca abandonat (unfit for habitation) · ru оскуде́вший (barren, lifeless) · pt desolado (dismal) · nn aud (deserted) · hy ամայի (barren, lifeless) · it desolato (deserted) · ar مُقْفِر (deserted) · mi hahore (barren, lifeless) · is óbyggilegur (barren, lifeless) · bg необитаван (deserted) · is auður (deserted) · eo dezerta (deserted) · ja 寂れた (barren, lifeless) · nb forlatt (unfit for habitation) · pt desolado (barren, lifeless) · nn forlaten (deserted) · ca desolat (dismal) · is ber (barren, lifeless) · el ερημωμένος (deserted) · ota خراب (barren, lifeless) · ru безнадёжный (hopeless) · eo dezerta (barren, lifeless) · bg безнадежден (hopeless) · is vansæll (hopeless) · ca desolat (barren, lifeless) · is eyðilegur (barren, lifeless) · ru пусты́нный (deserted) · it abbandonato (unfit for habitation) · es desierto (barren, lifeless) · la vastus (barren, lifeless) · el απελπιστικός (hopeless) · uk безлюдний (deserted) · rup ermu (roa-rup) (deserted) · nb forlatt (deserted) · is harðindalegur (barren, lifeless) · es desierto (deserted) · ka ტიალი (deserted) · is rýr (barren, lifeless) · ja 絶望的な (hopeless) · grc ἔρημος (deserted) · el έρημος (deserted) · et hüljatud (deserted) · az məskun olmayan (deserted) · hu kihalt (barren, lifeless) · ja 荒れた (deserted) · pdt eed (unfit for habitation) · ota ویران (barren, lifeless) · el άγονος (barren, lifeless) · bcl makapungaw (barren, lifeless) · hi उजाड़ (unfit for habitation) · el ακατοίκητος (unfit for habitation) · is hörgralegur (barren, lifeless) · got 𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (barren, lifeless)

desolate en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

/ˈdɛsəleɪt/

Etymology

From Middle English desolaten (“to desolate”), from desolat(e) (“desolate”), from Latin dēsōlātus, perfect passive participle of dēsōlō (“to leave alone, make lonely, lay waste, desolate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more.

Meanings

To deprive of inhabitants.
- York was so desolated just before the survey that it is not easy to estimate its ordinary population […] 1891, Charles Creighton, chapter 1, in A History of Epidemics in Britain, Cambridge University Press, page 23:
- If you consider well of the People of the West-Indies, it is very probable, that they are a newer or younger People, than the People of the old World. And it is much more likely, that the destruction that hath heretofore been there, was not by Earthquakes, […] but rather, it was Desolated by a particular Deluge: For Earthquakes are seldom in those Parts. 1625, Francis Bacon, “Of Vicissitude of Things”, in Essays, London: H. Herringman et al., published 1691, page 204:
- O Righteous Themis, if the Pow’rs above By Pray’rs are bent to pity, and to love; If humane Miseries can move their Mind; If yet they can forgive, and yet be kind; Tell how we may restore, by second birth, Mankind, and people desolated Earth. 1717, John Dryden, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Dublin: G. Risk et al., published 1727, Volume I, Book I, p. 16:
To devastate or lay waste somewhere.
- But in Utopia there will be wide stretches of cheerless or unhealthy or toilsome or dangerous land with never a household; there will be regions of mining and smelting, black with the smoke of furnaces and gashed and desolated by mines, with a sort of weird inhospitable grandeur of industrial desolation, and the men will come thither and work for a spell and return to civilisation again, washing and changing their attire in the swift gliding train. 1905, H. G. Wells, A Modern Utopia, Chapter 2, § 3:
- Then Moath pointed where a cloud Of Locusts, from the desolated fields Of Syria, wing’d their way. 1801, Robert Southey, “The Third Book”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume I, London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 168:
To abandon or forsake something.
- This completion of the Temple and attack upon Christians is the event that marks the apostasy that causes desolation, the detestable act that causes God to desolate (abandon) and destroy the Temple for the last time. 2007, James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, →ISBN:
- Combining widowed, separated, and divorced elders into a single group ("desolated"), the data indicated that desolated elders were slightly more lonely than either married or never-married older people (although this trend was not statistically significant at the conventional .05 level). 2013, Tracey A. Revenson, “Debunking the Myth of Lonelines in Late Life”, in Redefining Social Problems, →ISBN, page 126:
- It is not to be supposed that when Cush left Armenia, he left it desolate, and that a rich and long settled country was abandoned altogether; for it would be an absurd way of founding an universal empire, to desolate one country in order to people another. 1828, Algernon Herbert, Nimrod: A Discourse on Certain Passages of History and Fable:
To make someone sad, forlorn and hopeless.
- Kumalo stood shocked at the frightening and desolating words. 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 36, in Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, page 271:
- It is not altogether uncommon to hear a reader whose heart has been desolated by the poignancy of a narrative complain that the writer is unemotional. 1914, Arnold Bennett, The Author’s Craft, London: Hodder & Stoughton, Part II, p. 44:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Source
desolates	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres	lexicographic
desolated	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part	lexicographic
desolated	Tense=Past	lexicographic
desolating	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part	lexicographic

desolation

Synonyms

pull down · jazz · oppress · begloom · relinquish · race · remove · unbreed · disperse · annihilate · forset · sadden · depeople · upset · desolate · dissolve · ravel · liquidate · moan · lay waste · grieve · dash · tristitiate · eradicate · overturn · unhappy · dispeople · total · dispirit · get down · eliminate · attrist · bewreck · benothing · nuke · ruin · darken · vacate · sadden up · destroy · obliterate · contristate · bring down · unmake · wreck · harry · unpeople · exterminate · ruinate · disintegrate · devastate · waste · unpopulate · ravage · get down · aggrieve · fuck · aerosolize · overthrow · repent · diffuse · pulverize · fordo · subvert · withsake · blotto · extinguish · erase · demolish · ravage · wipe out · desolate · besorrow · rue · raze · grieven · level · decompose · depress · ungladden · blot out · wipe off · uproot · atomize · engrieve · dash · unexist · pain · give up · stamp out · come down on · deject · extirpate · deject · devastate · begrieve · depopulate

Translations (21)

ca devastar (to deprive of inhabitants) · fi hävittää (to devastate or lay waste) · fa خالی از سکنه (to deprive of inhabitants) · el ερημώνω (to deprive of inhabitants) · fr ravager (to deprive of inhabitants) · fr désoler (to make sad, forlorn and hopeless) · mk опустоши (to devastate or lay waste) · el ερημώνω (to devastate or lay waste) · bg обезлюдявам (to deprive of inhabitants) · da lægge øde (to devastate or lay waste) · da lægge øde (to deprive of inhabitants) · da hærge (to deprive of inhabitants) · el εγκαταλείπω (to abandon or forsake) · bg опустошавам (to deprive of inhabitants) · da gøre ulykkelig (to make sad, forlorn and hopeless) · el απελπίζω (to make sad, forlorn and hopeless) · fi masentaa (to make sad, forlorn and hopeless) · fi autioittaa (to deprive of inhabitants) · da hærge (to devastate or lay waste) · fi hylätä (to abandon or forsake) · da gøre fortvivlet (to make sad, forlorn and hopeless)

Dictionary

desolate en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

Etymology

Meanings

Forms

Antonyms

Deriveds

Synonyms

Translations (148)

desolate en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

Etymology

Meanings

Forms

Relateds

Synonyms

Translations (21)