DESOLATE

desolate

(adjective) crushed by grief; “depressed and desolate of soul”; “a low desolate wail”

bare, barren, bleak, desolate, stark

(adjective) 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”

depopulate, desolate

(verb) reduce in population; “The epidemic depopulated the countryside”

abandon, forsake, desolate, desert

(verb) leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; “The mother deserted her children”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

desolate (comparative more desolate, superlative most desolate)

Deserted and devoid of inhabitants.

Barren and lifeless.

Made unfit for habitation or use because of neglect, destruction etc.

Dismal or dreary.

Sad, forlorn and hopeless.

Verb

desolate (third-person singular simple present desolates, present participle desolating, simple past and past participle desolated)

To deprive of inhabitants.

To devastate or lay waste somewhere.

To abandon or forsake something.

To make someone sad, forlorn and hopeless.

Source: Wiktionary


Des"o*late, a. Etym: [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.

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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

8 January 2025

SYCAMORE

(noun) Eurasian maple tree with pale grey bark that peels in flakes like that of a sycamore tree; leaves with five ovate lobes yellow in autumn


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Coffee Trivia

The average annual yield from one coffee tree is the equivalent of 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of roasted coffee. It takes about 4,000 hand-picked green coffee beans to make a pound of coffee.

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