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Definition of Desolate
1. Adjective. Providing no shelter or sustenance. "A stark landscape"
Similar to: Inhospitable
Derivative terms: Bareness, Barren, Barrenness, Bleakness, Starkness
2. Verb. Leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch. "Sam cannot desolate Sue "; "The mother deserted her children"
Generic synonyms: Leave
Specialized synonyms: Expose, Walk Out, Ditch, Maroon, Strand
Derivative terms: Abandonment, Deserter, Deserter, Desertion, Desolation, Forsaking
3. Adjective. Crushed by grief. "A low desolate wail"
4. Verb. Reduce in population. "The epidemic depopulated the countryside"
Generic synonyms: Reduce, Shrink
Derivative terms: Depopulation, Desolation
5. Verb. Cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly. "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"
Generic synonyms: Destroy, Ruin
Specialized synonyms: Ruin
Derivative terms: Desolation, Desolation, Desolation, Devastation, Devastation, Devastation, Devastation, Ravage, Ravaging, Scourge, Waster
Definition of Desolate
1. a. Destitute or deprived of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited; hence, gloomy; as, a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house.
2. v. t. To make desolate; to leave alone; to deprive of inhabitants; as, the earth was nearly desolated by the flood.
Definition of Desolate
1. Adjective. Deserted and devoid of inhabitants. ¹
2. Adjective. Barren and lifeless. ¹
3. Adjective. Made unfit for habitation or use. ¹
4. Adjective. Dismal or dreary. ¹
5. Adjective. Sad, forlorn and hopeless. ¹
6. Verb. To deprive of inhabitants. ¹
7. Verb. To devastate or lay waste somewhere. ¹
8. Verb. To abandon or forsake something. ¹
9. Verb. To make someone sad, forlorn and hopeless. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Desolate
1. to lay waste [v -LATED, -LATING, -LATES]
Medical Definition of Desolate
1. 1. To make desolate; to leave alone; to deprive of inhabitants; as, the earth was nearly desolated by the flood. 2. To lay waste; to ruin; to ravage; as, a fire desolates a city. "Constructed in the very heart of a desolating war." (Sparks) Origin: Desolated; Desolating. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Desolate
Literary usage of Desolate
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss, Jenny H. Stickney (1898)
"A desolate ISLAND, AT daybreak we were all awake; for hope as truly as «*-'*-
care is not a friend to sleep. As soon as we had knelt, and offered our ..."
2. Specimens of American Poetry: With Critical and Biographical Notices. In by Samuel Kettell (1829)
"A city lay before me, desolate, And yet not all decay'd. ... But as desolate
Slumber'd the newer city, though its walls Were yet unbroken, and its towering ..."
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