Definitions for desolate
ˈdɛs ə lɪt; -ˌleɪtdes·o·late

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.5 / 4 votes

1. bare, barren, bleak, desolate, starkadjective

   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. desolateverb

   crushed by grief

   "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail"

3. abandon, forsake, desolate, desertverb

   leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

   "The mother deserted her children"

4. depopulate, desolateverb

   reduce in population

   "The epidemic depopulated the countryside"

5. lay waste to, waste, devastate, desolate, ravage, scourgeverb

   cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly

   "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion"

WiktionaryRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

1. desolateverb

   To deprive of inhabitants.

2. desolateverb

   To devastate or lay waste somewhere.

3. desolateverb

   To abandon or forsake something.

4. desolateverb

   To make someone sad, forlorn and hopeless.

5. desolateadjective

   Deserted and devoid of inhabitants.

6. desolateadjective

   Barren and lifeless.

7. desolateadjective

   Made unfit for habitation or use.

8. desolateadjective

   Dismal or dreary.

9. desolateadjective

   Sad, forlorn and hopeless.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Desolateadjective

   Etymology: desolatus, Latin.

   1. Without inhabitants; uninhabited.

   Let us seek some desolate shade, and there
   Weep our sad bosoms empty. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   This hero appears at first in a desolate island, sitting upon the side of the sea. William Broome, on Epic Poetry.

   2. Deprived of inhabitants; laid waste.

   This city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant. Jer. xxvi.

   3. Solitary; without society.

2. To DESOLATEverb

   To deprive of inhabitants; to lay waste.

   Etymology: desolo, Latin.

   The island of Atlantis was not swallowed by an earthquake, but was desolated by a particular deluge; for earthquakes are seldom in those parts: but, on the other side, they have such pouring rivers, as the rivers of Asia, Africa, and Europe are but brooks to them. Francis Bacon, Essay 59.

   Thick around
   Thunders the sport of those, who with the gun
   And dog, impatient bounding at the shot,
   Worse than the season, desolate the fields. James Thomson, Winter.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

1. Desolateadjective

   destitute or deprived of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited; hence, gloomy; as, a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house

2. Desolateadjective

   laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as, desolate altars

3. Desolateadjective

   left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless

4. Desolateadjective

   lost to shame; dissolute

5. Desolateadjective

   destitute of; lacking in

6. Desolateverb

   to make desolate; to leave alone; to deprive of inhabitants; as, the earth was nearly desolated by the flood

7. Desolateverb

   to lay waste; to ruin; to ravage; as, a fire desolates a city

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Desolate

   des′o-lāt, v.t. to make solitary: to deprive of inhabitants: to lay waste.—adj. solitary: destitute of inhabitants: laid waste.—adv. Des′olately.—ns. Des′olateness; Desolat′er, -or; Desolā′tion, waste: destruction: a place desolated.—adj. Des′olatory. [L. desolāre, -ātum—de, inten., and solāre, to make alone—solus, alone.]

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How to pronounce desolate?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say desolate in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of desolate in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of desolate in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of desolate in a Sentence

1. George Eliot:

   No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.

2. Benjamin Weiss:

   The most surprising thing that's come out of these images is the potential opportunity to catch the time when Jezero Crater transitioned from an Earth-like habitable environment, to this desolate landscape wasteland we see now, these boulder beds may be records of this transition, and we haven't seen this in other places on Mars.

3. Craig Downs:

   You can have an El Niño climate change impact on a coral reef ; let's say it kills 40 % of the coral, but if you have swimmers there with sunscreen pollution, you're not going to have new generations coming in. So you're going to see the slow decline of the coral reefs in the area. And then you get an undersea, desolate landscape of just muck and mud and sand.

4. Arthur O'Shaunessey:

   We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dream. Wandering by lone sea breakers, and sitting by desolate streams. World losers and world forsakers, for whom the pale moon gleams. Yet we are movers and the shakers of the world forever it seems.

5. David Benjamin:

   It's pretty desolate up here, and it's built on the side of the mountain, so if you try to get out, once you get out, you have no idea where you're going, it's a good place to keep people that don't want to be here.

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