Desolate

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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     2. To lay waste; to ruin; to ravage; as, a fire desolates a
        city.
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              Constructed in the very heart of a desolating war.
                                                    --Sparks.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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              I will make Jerusalem . . . a den of dragons, and I
              will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an
              inhabitant.                           --Jer. ix. 11.
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              And the silvery marish flowers that throng
              The desolate creeks and pools among.  --Tennyson.
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     2. Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed;
        as, desolate altars.
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     3. Left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless.
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              Have mercy upon, for I am desolate.   --Ps. xxv. 16.
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              Voice of the poor and desolate.       --Keble.
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     4. Lost to shame; dissolute. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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     5. Destitute of; lacking in. [Obs.]
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              I were right now of tales desolate.   --Chaucer.
  
     Syn: Desert; uninhabited; lonely; waste.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  desolate
       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}, {stark}]
       2: pitiable in circumstances especially through abandonment;
          "desolate and despairing"; "left forlorn" [syn: {forlorn},
           {godforsaken}, {lorn}]
       3: crushed by grief; "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low
          desolate wail"
       4: made uninhabitable; "upon this blasted heath"- Shakespeare;
          "a wasted landscape" [syn: {blasted}, {desolated}, {devastated},
           {ravaged}, {ruined}, {wasted}]
       v 1: leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the
            lurch; "The mother deserted her children" [syn: {abandon},
             {forsake}, {desert}]
       2: reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the
          countryside" [syn: {depopulate}]
       3: devastate or ravage; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside
          after the invasion" [syn: {lay waste to}, {waste}, {devastate},
           {ravage}, {scourge}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  200 Moby Thesaurus words for "desolate":
     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