desolate
1 of 2adjective
des·o·late ˈde-sə-lət 
ˈde-zə-
1
: devoid of inhabitants and visitors : deserted
a desolate abandoned town
2
: joyless, disconsolate, and sorrowful through or as if through separation from a loved one
a desolate widow
3
a
: showing the effects of abandonment and neglect : dilapidated
a desolate old house
b
: barren, lifeless
a desolate landscape
c
: devoid of warmth, comfort, or hope : gloomy
desolate memories
desolately adverb
desolateness noun
desolate
2 of 2verb
des·o·late ˈde-sə-ˌlāt
ˈde-zə-
desolated; desolating
transitive verb
: to make desolate:
a
: to deprive of inhabitants
The neighboring towns were desolated.
b
: to lay waste
desolating the city with bombs
c
: forsake
their desolated families back home
d
: to make wretched
desolater noun
or desolator
ˈde-sə-ˌlā-tər
ˈde-zə-
desolatingly
ˈde-sə-ˌlā-tiŋ-lē
adverb ˈde-zə-
Did you know?
What is the word origin of desolate?
The word desolate hasn't strayed far from its Latin roots: its earliest meaning of "deserted" mirrors that of its Latin source dēsōlātus, which comes from the verb dēsōlāre, meaning "to leave all alone, forsake, empty of inhabitants." That word's root is sōlus, meaning "lone, acting without a partner, lonely, deserted," source too of sole, soliloquy, solitary, solitude, and solo. Desolate also functions as a verb with its most common meanings being "to lay waste" and "to make wretched; to make someone deeply dejected or distressed."
Synonyms
Adjective
- black
- bleak
- cheerless
- chill
- Cimmerian
- cloudy
- cold
- comfortless
- dark
- darkening
- depressing
- depressive
- dire
- disconsolate
- dismal
- drear
- dreary
- dreich [chiefly Scottish]
- elegiac
- elegiacal
- forlorn
- funereal
- gloomy
- glum
- godforsaken
- gray
- grey
- lonely
- lonesome
- lugubrious
- miserable
- morbid
- morose
- murky
- plutonian
- saturnine
- sepulchral
- solemn
- somber
- sombre
- sullen
- sunless
- tenebrific
- tenebrous
- wretched
Verb
- annihilate
- cream
- decimate
- demolish
- destroy
- devastate
- do in
- extinguish
- nuke
- pull down
- pulverize
- raze
- rub out
- ruin
- shatter
- smash
- tear down
- total
- vaporize
- waste
- wrack
- wreck
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Adjective a desolate house abandoned many years ago he was less desolate after adopting a rescue dog Verb totally desolated the city with aerial bombs
Recent Examples on the Web
Claire Rafford, The Indianapolis Star, 22 Aug. 2022 Despite being a quick stroll to City Hall’s stately dome, the five blocks on Market Street between Sixth and 11th streets were desolate. Roland Li, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 July 2022 Hans Island is just a desolate, kidney shaped piece of rock in the Arctic. Ian Austen, New York Times, 14 June 2022 Severodonetsk and the communities that surround it are growing more desolate by the day. Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, 31 May 2022 In the neighboring gallery, the brown sand had become a desolate, blood-red landscape. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 And the glacial drip, drip, drip of ticket sales is only going to worsen as the box office heads for a near desolate stretch with hardly any new offerings from major studios on the horizon. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 14 Aug. 2022 Nye County, the country’s third largest by area, stretches from the strip malls on the outer margins of Las Vegas through desolate rangelands where cattle graze and the military trains pilots and practices missile-firing and bomb drops. Sam Metz, Anchorage Daily News, 29 July 2022 In one desolate village cemetery outside the capital, a local man showing visitors around recently pointed out the grave of a man who had been suspected of aiding the occupiers. Laura Kingstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2022 Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 30 Aug. 2022 Like any masterful monologue, one felt invited inside the mind behind that desolate yet brave voice. Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2022 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 But by summer’s end, the early excitement had died down and many sidewalk tables were languishing unfilled, leaving neighborhood streets desolate rather than boisterous, North End restaurateurs said then. BostonGlobe.com, 28 July 2021 See More
Adjective
But when the gas wells dried up, factories closed and people began to move away, leaving its downtown desolate. Claire Rafford, The Indianapolis Star, 22 Aug. 2022 Despite being a quick stroll to City Hall’s stately dome, the five blocks on Market Street between Sixth and 11th streets were desolate. Roland Li, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 July 2022 Hans Island is just a desolate, kidney shaped piece of rock in the Arctic. Ian Austen, New York Times, 14 June 2022 Severodonetsk and the communities that surround it are growing more desolate by the day. Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, 31 May 2022 In the neighboring gallery, the brown sand had become a desolate, blood-red landscape. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 15 Aug. 2022 And the glacial drip, drip, drip of ticket sales is only going to worsen as the box office heads for a near desolate stretch with hardly any new offerings from major studios on the horizon. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 14 Aug. 2022 Nye County, the country’s third largest by area, stretches from the strip malls on the outer margins of Las Vegas through desolate rangelands where cattle graze and the military trains pilots and practices missile-firing and bomb drops. Sam Metz, Anchorage Daily News, 29 July 2022 In one desolate village cemetery outside the capital, a local man showing visitors around recently pointed out the grave of a man who had been suspected of aiding the occupiers. Laura Kingstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2022 Verb
In the past few weeks, the moviegoing landscape has taken a drastic turn from dreary to downright desolate. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 30 Aug. 2022 Like any masterful monologue, one felt invited inside the mind behind that desolate yet brave voice. Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2022 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 For eight weeks, the streets of Paris were empty of traffic and silent, the sidewalks desolate, all but essential food stores closed. Rachel Donadio, The New York Review of Books, 23 July 2020 But by summer’s end, the early excitement had died down and many sidewalk tables were languishing unfilled, leaving neighborhood streets desolate rather than boisterous, North End restaurateurs said then. BostonGlobe.com, 28 July 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English desolat, desolate "deserted, lonely, distressed," borrowed from Latin dēsōlātus, past participle of dēsōlāre "to leave all alone, forsake, empty of inhabitants," from dē- de- + -sōlāre, verbal derivative of sōlus "lone, acting without a partner, lonely, deserted," of uncertain origin
Verb
Middle English desolaten (in past participle desolatid "deserted, ruined"), borrowed from Latin dēsōlātus, past participle of dēsōlāre "to leave all alone, forsake, empty of inhabitants" — more at desolate entry 1
First Known Use
Adjective
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
desolate 1 of 2
adjective
des·o·late ˈde-sə-lət
1
: having no comfort or companionship : lonely
2
: left neglected or in ruins
a desolate old house
3
: without signs of life : barren
a dry, desolate land
4
: cheerless, gloomy
She put aside desolate thoughts.
desolate
2 of 2verb
des·o·late ˈde-sə-ˌlāt
desolated; desolating
: to ruin or leave without comfort or companionship
desolated
verb
as in destroyed
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of totally desolated the city with aerial bombs Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- destroyed
- ruined
- devastated
- demolished
- shattered
- wrecked
- damaged
- smashed
- ravaged
- wasted
- decimated
- annihilated
- razed
- wracked
- eroded
- extinguished
- overcame
- marred
- crippled
- pulverized
- vaporized
- totaled
- killed
- defeated
- subdued
- nuked
- crushed
- tore down
- dismantled
- injured
- rubbed out
- creamed
- conquered
- blasted
- mutilated
- dilapidated
- pulled down
- disfigured
- did in
- removed
- spoiled
- deteriorated
- totalled
- broke
- despoiled
- impaired
- disintegrated
- mangled
- defaced
- licked
- harmed
- obliterated
- vitiated
- dynamited
- thrashed
- routed
- plundered
- overmatched
- eradicated
- dissolved
- trimmed
- surmounted
- scoured
- gutted
- exterminated
- whipped
- pillaged
- clobbered
- slaughtered
- vandalized
- bested
- trampled
- mastered
- extirpated
- trounced
- murdered
- looted
- unbuilt
- assassinated
- unmade
- massacred
- scotched
- spoilt
- sacked
- disassembled
- liquidated
- trashed
- effaced
- expunged
- washed out
- blew up
- beat
- drubbed
- wiped out
- took down
- butchered
- skunked
- walloped
- undid
- cut down
- executed
- felled
- triumphed (over)
- prevailed (over)
- won (against)
- dispatched
- zapped
- overbore
- blotted out
- swept (away)
- wore (away)
- havocked
- slew
- took out
- killed off
- snuffed (out)
- stamped (out)
- rooted (out)
- mowed (down)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- built
- constructed
- erected
- reared
- repaired
- raised
- created
- fixed
- produced
- assembled
- protected
- organized
- manufactured
- formed
- preserved
- made
- mended
- established
- invented
- shaped
- saved
- fashioned
- founded
- set up
- rebuilt
- reconditioned
- patched
- brought about
- framed
- molded
- restored
- forged
- constituted
- revamped
- reconstructed
- conserved
- instituted
- fabricated
- put up
- doctored
- renovated
- remodeled
- fathered