Adjacent Words

Desolate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESOLATE, a.
1. Destitute or deprived of inhabitants; desert; uninhabited; denoting either stripped of inhabitants, or never having been inhabitated; as a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness.
I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. Jeremiah 9.
2. Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as desolate altars; desolate towers. Ezek. Zeph.
3. Solitary; without a companion; afflicted.
Tamar remained desolate in Absaloms house. 1 Samuel 13.
4. Deserted of God; deprived of comfort.
My heart within me is desolate. Psalms 143.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
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" [syn: bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark]
2: crushed by grief; "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail" v
1: leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; "The mother deserted her children" [syn: abandon, forsake, desolate, desert]
2: reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the countryside" [syn: depopulate, desolate]
3: cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion" [syn: lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourge]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English desolat, from Latin desolatus, past participle of desolare to abandon, from de- + solus alone Date: 14th century 1. devoid of inhabitants and visitors ; deserted 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> Synonyms: see alone, dismal • desolately adverb • desolateness noun II. transitive verb (-lated; -lating) Date: 14th century to make desolate: a. to deprive of inhabitants b. to lay waste c. forsake d. to make wretched • desolater or desolator noun • desolatingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & v. --adj. 1 left alone; solitary. 2 (of a building or place) uninhabited, ruined, neglected, barren, dreary, empty (a desolate moor). 3 forlorn; wretched; miserable (was left desolate and weeping). --v.tr. 1 depopulate or devastate; lay waste to. 2 (esp. as desolated adj.) make wretched or forlorn (desolated by grief; inconsolable and desolated). Derivatives: desolately adv. desolateness n. desolator n. Etymology: ME f. L desolatus past part. of desolare (as DE-, solare f. solus alone)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desolate Des"o*late, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Desolated; p. pr. & vb. n. Desolating.] 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Desolate Des"o*late, a. [L. desolatus, p. p. of desolare to leave alone, forsake; de- + solare to make lonely, solus alone. See Sole, a.] 1. Destitute or deprived of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited; hence, gloomy; as, a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house. I will make Jerusalem . . . a den of dragons, and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. --Jer. ix. 11. And the silvery marish flowers that throng The desolate creeks and pools among. --Tennyson. 2. Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as, desolate altars. 3. Left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless. Have mercy upon, for I am desolate. --Ps. xxv. 16. Voice of the poor and desolate. --Keble. 4. Lost to shame; dissolute. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 5. Destitute of; lacking in. [Obs.] I were right now of tales desolate. --Chaucer. Syn: Desert; uninhabited; lonely; waste.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A desolate place is empty of people and lacking in comfort. ...a desolate landscape of flat green fields broken by marsh... = bleak ADJ 2. If someone is desolate, they feel very sad, alone, and without hope. (LITERARY) He was desolate without her. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

des'-o-lat (very frequently in the Old Testament for shamem, and its derivatives; less frequently, charebh, and its derivatives, and other words. In the New Testament it stands for eremos (Mt 23:38; Ac 1:20; Ga 4:27) eremoo (Re 17:16), and monoo (1Ti 5:5)): From Latin de, intens., solus, alone. Several shades of meaning can be distinguished:

(1) Its primary sense is "left lonely," "forlorn," e. g. Ps 25:16, "Have mercy upon me; for I am desolate" (Hebrew yachidh, "alone"); 1Ti 5:5, "she that is a widow indeed, and desolate" (Greek memonomene, "left alone").

(2) In the sense of "laid waste," "destitute of inhabitants," e. g. Jer 4:7, "to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant."

(3) With the meaning "comfortless," "afflicted," e. g. Ps 143:4, "My heart within me is desolate."

(4) In the sense of "barren," "childless," "unfruitful," e. g. Job 15:34; Isa 49:21 (Hebrew galmudh).

D. Miall Edwards

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Uninhabited, unfrequented, lone, lonely, solitary, desert, forsaken, dreary, wild, waste, barren. 2. Lonely, lonesome, solitary, companionless. 3. Ruined, destroyed, devastated, ravaged, laid waste, desolated. 4. Comfortless, cheerless, miserable, wretched, forlorn. II. v. a. Ravage, devastate, depopulate, ruin, destroy, despoil, sack, lay waste.

Moby Thesaurus

abandoned, acarpous, acheronian, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, alone, anguish, annihilate, arid, bare, barren, black, bleak, break down, bring to ruin, bring to tears, celibate, cheerless, childless, comfortless, condemn, confound, consume, crush, crushed, cut up, damn, dark, daunt, deal destruction, decimate, deep-troubled, defenseless, deject, dejected, demolish, depopulate, depredate, depress, depressed, desecrate, desert, deserted, desole, despoil, despondent, destitute, destroy, destroyed, devastate, devastated, devour, disconsolate, discourage, discouraged, dishearten, dismal, dismay, dispeople, dispirit, dispirited, dissolve, distressed, down, downcast, downhearted, drained, draw tears, drear, dreary, dried-up, dry, embitter, empty, engorge, excruciate, exhausted, fallow, fatherless, forlorn, forsaken, friendless, fruitless, funereal, gaunt, gelded, gloomy, gobble, gobble up, godforsaken, grieve, gut, gut with fire, havoc, heart-stricken, heart-struck, heartsick, heartsore, helpless, homeless, hopeless, impotent, incinerate, inconsolable, ineffectual, infecund, infertile, inundate, isolated, issueless, jejune, joyless, kithless, lay in ruins, lay waste, leached, lonely, low-spirited, melancholy, menopausal, miserable, motherless, mournful, murky, neglected, nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive, nonprolific, obliterate, oppress, outcast, overwhelm, pillage, poor, poverty-stricken, prostrate, ravage, ravaged, raze, remote, ruin, ruinate, ruined, sack, sad, sadden, shipwreck, sick, sick at heart, sine prole, solitary, somber, sorrow, sorrowful, soul-sick, spiritless, spoliate, sterile, stricken, sucked dry, suicidal, swallow up, teemless, throw into disorder, torment, torture, unconsolable, uncouth, uncultivated, unfertile, unfrequented, unfriended, unfruitful, unhappy, uninhabited, unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, unoccupied, unpeople, unplowed, unproductive, unprolific, unsown, untilled, upheave, vacant, vandalize, vaporize, virgin, waste, wasted, without issue, woebegone, woeful, wrack, wreak havoc, wreck, wretched